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diff --git a/59576-0.txt b/59576-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2875b0c --- /dev/null +++ b/59576-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4364 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59576 *** + + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover art] + + + + + SHASTA OF THE WOLVES + + + BY + + OLAF BAKER + + + + ILLUSTRATIONS BY + CHARLES LIVINGSTON BULL + + + + NEW YORK + DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY + 1952 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1919 + BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY, INC. + + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + AMERICAN BOOK-STRATFORD PRESS, INC., NEW YORK + + + + + CONTENTS + + CHAPTER + + I The Wolf-Child + II The Coming of Shoomoo + III Shasta Comes Very Near Being Eaten by a Bear + IV The End of the Fight + V Gomposh, the Wise One + VI Shasta Sings the Wolf Chorus + VII Shasta Joins the Wolf Pack + VIII The Voice that Was Goohooperay + IX The Coming of Kennebec + X How Shasta Hid in Time + XI Shasta's Restlessness and What Came of It + XII Shasta Sees His Redskin Kindred + XIII The Bull Moose + XIV Shasta Leaves His Wolf Kin + XV How Shasta Fought Musha-Wunk + XVI The Danger From the South + XVII Shasta Goes Scouting + XVIII The Wolves Avenge + + + + +SHASTA OF THE WOLVES + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE WOLF-CHILD + +It was the old she-wolf Nitka that came running lightly along the +dusk. Though she had a great and powerful body, with a weight heavy +enough to bear down a grown man, her feet made no sound as they came +padding through the trees. She had been a long way, travelling for a +kill, because at home the wolf-babies were very hungry and gave her +no peace. They were not well-behaved babies at all. Whatever +mischief there was in the world seemed to be packed tight into their +little furry bodies. They played and fought and worried each other +till they grew hungry again, and then they fell upon their mother +like the little ravening monsters that they were. But Nitka bore it +all patiently, as a kind old mother should, and only gave them a +smack occasionally, when their behaviour was beyond everything for +naughtiness. + +Now, as she came running through the trees she drank in the air +thirstily through her long nose. For it was her nose that brought +her news of the forest, telling her what creatures were abroad, and +whether there was a chance of a kill. This evening the air was full +of smells, and heavy with the heat of the long summer day; but many +of them were wood smells, tree smells, green smells; not the scent of +the warm fur and the warm flesh and the good blood that ran in the +warm bodies and made them spill the secret of themselves along the +air. And it was this warm, red, running smell for which Nitka was so +thirsty, and of which there was so little spilt upon the creeping +dusk. Yet now and then a delicate whiff of it would come, and Nitka +would sniff harder, swinging her head into the wind. And sometimes +it grew stronger and sometimes weaker, and sometimes would cease +altogether, swallowed up in the scent of the things that were green. +And then, all of a sudden, the smell came thick and strong, flowing +like a stream along the drift of the air. + +In the wild, your scent is yourself. What you smell like, that you +are. And so, accordingly as the wind blows, you spill yourself, even +against your will, either backwards or forwards, on the currents of +the air. + +Nitka increased her pace, and as she ran the smell grew sweeter and +stronger, and made her mad for the kill. It was not long before her +sharp eyes gave her sight of a deer feeding in an open glade. Nitka +stooped her long body to the earth, and began to stalk her prey. All +about her the forest seemed to hold back its breath. + +It was no noise which Nitka made which betrayed her presence. She +herself came stooping nearer like a shadow on four feet. And as it +was up-wind that she came, she spilt herself upon the air backwards, +not forwards, to the deer. Yet something there was which seemed to +give it warning beyond sound, or sight, or smell. + +It stopped feeding, and lifted its head. For a moment or two it +stood as still as an image carved in stone; yet, as Nitka knew well, +it was the stillness of warm flesh that paused before it fled. She +gathered her legs under her for the deadly spring. The deer turned +its head quickly, and saw a long grey shadow launch itself through +the dusk. It was the last leaping shadow the deer would ever see. +For the law of the forest is a stern and unpitying one--the law of +Hunger, and the law of Desire. + +When Nitka had finished her kill, and satisfied her hunger, she +thought of the babies at home. They were too small yet for flesh +food, so it was no use carrying any back to them. Nevertheless they +would be wanting their supper badly, and she must go and give it to +them if she would have any quiet in her mind. So she trotted through +the forest, having first buried some pieces of the deer where she +would know where to find them. + +The cave in which her cubs were waiting was far away, for she had +travelled many miles, but her instinct told her how to find it easily +again, and she made a straight line for it, loping along towards the +hills. She was going down-wind now, and did not catch a scent of the +things in front. But as she had had her kill, that did not matter. +There was one thought in her old wise head, and that thought was home. + +But before she reached it, she lit upon a strange thing. It lay +right in her path--a small brown bundle that now and then set up a +thin wail. Nitka observed it carefully, then ran round to the +leeward of it to pick up its scent the better. With strange things +she always did this. You never knew what a strange thing might do +before your nose could give you warning. As she circled, she came +upon another smell which she had smelled before--the scent of man, of +which she was afraid. But it was a trail several hours old, and was +growing a little stale. Nitka crept up to the peculiar bundle. She +sniffed at it hard, then turned it over gently with her paw. As she +did so, it stirred a little and whimpered. The smell was the smell +of man, but the whimper was that of a cub. Nitka distrusted the +smell, but the whimper was good. She was not hungry now, but there +were the hungry babies at home. She must not delay any longer. She +caught up the bundle by the loose skin that covered it, and started +off again. She had to go more slowly now, because of the bundle, and +when at last she reached the cave upon the mountain-side, the night +had fallen. Dark though it was, the baby wolves were awake, and +ready for a famous meal; but in the odd bundle which their mother +dropped inside the mouth of the den they were not interested enough +to find out what it was. When they had had their supper they fell +fast asleep, and when the rising moon cast a glimmer into the cave, +you might have seen an old mother wolf and a family of cubs all +snuggled up together and very fast asleep. + +But in the morning, when they woke up, there was another cub, a cub +whose clothes were not of fur, but of a strange covering which they +would have called Indian blanket if they had had any word for such a +thing in their furry language. However, they speedily took to +worrying this odd blanket; and presently off it came and was found to +be no skin at all, but only a loose cover that tore to pieces +beautifully, and made you cough when you tried to swallow it. +Inside, the baby had another skin that was of a reddish brown and +very soft. They began to worry that also, hoping it might come off +too, but it stuck fast to what was underneath, as is the way with +such skins, being specially prepared to stick, and the baby inside it +began to squeal like mad. + +For some reason or other, the baby did not bite back again. It just +lay on its back, and waved fat arms and legs in the air. That hurt +nobody, so the little wolves rolled it over and over, and tried to +take pieces out of its arms and legs, and thought it was quite the +biggest joke they had had in all their lives. Only the new baby did +not have a sense of humour, and refused to enter into the fun. It +only squealed louder and louder, and actually squeezed water out of +its little eyes! + +Then, all at once, without any warning whatever, Nitka put a stop to +the fun by cuffing her babies right and left; and so the new baby did +not have to cry alone, but was joined by all the little wolves, +yelping with fear and pain. So from that time onward they learned +slowly that the new baby was not to be bitten just for fun, but was +somehow or other a little naked brother who had left his coat behind +him in the outside world. + +If you had asked Nitka why she had taken the baby's part, I don't +believe she could have told you. All she knew was that there was a +feeling inside her that this odd thing she had found in the forest +was to be protected from harm. + +That was in the early days of little Shasta's life. He was so tiny +that he soon grew used to the difference between living among the +wolves and living among his own kind. And soon he forgot even the +dim thing he once remembered, and thought there was no life but the +life of the cave where always it was shadowy and cool even in the +hottest summer day. And he learned to play with the little wolves, +his brothers, and wrestle and box with them, and go tumbling all over +the cave floor with never a squeal. Only sometimes when the play +seemed to grow too rough, and old Nitka thought he was having a bad +time of it, she would rescue him from his playmates, and give +everybody a general smacking all round: and then there would be peace +for a little time. + +So that is how it came to pass that Shasta learnt the language of the +wolves, and of the other animals--and indeed for a time knew no +other--and understood what they said and thought, and even felt, when +there was no need of any words. + +And all this knowledge was of great use afterwards, and was the +saving of his life, as you shall presently be told. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE COMING OF SHOOMOO + +Now the first great day in little Shasta's wolf life was the day when +he left the cave for the first time and came out into the open world. +He didn't know why he was to go out, nor what going out really meant. +All he knew was that, suddenly, there was a movement of all the cubs +towards the place where the light came from, and that it seemed +natural for him to follow the movement. + +When he crawled outside, the sunlight hit him smack in the face like +a hot white hand, and then, when he got over that, the world swam in +upon his little brain in the way of a coloured dream. It was a very +splendid dream, in which everything was new and strange and beautiful +beyond all words to describe. The baby wolf-brothers sat in a row +and blinked out at the dream, sniffing at it with their puppy noses +because of the instinct within them that even dreams must be smelt if +you would find out what they are. And it seemed to them to be a very +good dream, smelling of grass and flowers, and of hot rocks, and of +the sharp scent which the pine trees loose on the summer air. And +there, on a rising piece of ground, sat the old wolf-mother, also +smelling the good world, only that, besides the smell of the trees +and rocks, she could distinguish those other odours of living +creatures which drift idly down the wind. + +[Illustration: THE BABY WOLF-BROTHERS SAT IN A ROW ... SNIFFING WITH +THEIR PUPPY NOSES] + +Shasta, a little way behind his wolf-brothers, sat down too. When a +large curious dream comes it is better to sit and watch what it will +do; otherwise, if you begin to walk about in it, you may fall over +something, and come to a bad end! So Shasta sat and blinked at the +thing, and waggled his fingers and his toes. He smelt at the thing +also, and to him, as to the others, it seemed a good and pleasant +smell, and he gurgled with delight. The sound he made was so funny +that the cubs turned round to see what was happening. But when they +saw that it was only the foster-brother being odd as usual, they +turned away again and went on smelling at the world. + +High up above his head, Shasta saw something very white and hot. It +was so dazzling that he couldn't look up at it for more than a moment +at a time, and because the thing hurt his eyes, and set queer round +plates dancing in front of them when he looked away, he gave up +looking at it. Yet always he was conscious that it was there--the +hot white centre to this curious dream. And once he lifted a little +hairy hand to give it a cuff for being so hot and silly; only, +somehow, the hand didn't quite reach, and when he tried a little +higher, he overbalanced and fell over on his back. + +This was a signal for the cubs to rush at him and have a game. So +for a long time, Shasta cuffed at them and wrestled with them, and +sometimes got the better of them, and sometimes was badly beaten and +worried like a rat. Of course neither he nor they had any idea that +this delightful scuffling and cuffing was really the beginning of +their education, and that their muscles were being trained and their +limbs strengthened for their battle with the world when they should +be grown up, and babies no longer. + +Suddenly, as if by magic, the play stopped dead, with Shasta and the +cubs locked in a fierce embrace. Old Nitka never made a sound, nor +any outward sign, which ordered the play to cease. Yet in a +twinkling the cubs were back into the den, while Nitka had risen from +her point of observation, with her eyes set hard to the north. +Shasta sat up and stared. The last wolf-brother was wobbling his fat +body into the cave's mouth. Shasta felt, in some odd unexplained +way, that he ought to follow, and that it was because Nitka had +willed it, that the cubs had gone in. Yet because he was a man-baby, +and not a wolf-cub, he stayed where he was and stared at his +foster-mother with large and wondering eyes. But Nitka did not look +at him. Her eyes were far away over the tops of the spruces and +pines--far away to a certain spot where a level rock jutted out from +the great "barren" that stretched like a roof along the windy top of +the world. If Shasta had followed the direction of Nitka's eyes, he +would have seen what looked like the form of a large timber-wolf +lying crouched upon the rock, with his nose well into the wind. Only +Shasta had no eyes for anything but Nitka. He had never seen her +look so fierce before. All her great body was stiffened as if with +steel springs. Just above her tail her hair was raised, as is the +way when a wolf or dog is roused for fight; and in her gleaming eyes, +burning like dull coals, there was a green, unpleasant light. Shasta +could not tell what ailed his foster-mother. Only, in a dim way, he +felt that something was amiss. And the feeling made him +uncomfortable, as when a grown-up person says nothing to you, but has +a slap ready in the hands. + +Presently Nitka saw the other wolf slip off the rock and disappear in +the spruce scrub at its base. And then, as before, she let herself +down, and the bristles flattened above her tail. She seemed to rest +in her body, and to give up all her bones to the warmth of the summer +afternoon. Near by, the stream fell down the hill-side with a sleepy +murmur, and the grasshoppers chirruped in the grass. There was +nothing to be seen except, high up in the air, a sweep of slow wings +that bore Kennebec, the great eagle, in his solemn circles above the +canyon at the foot of the mountain. Kennebec was a mighty person in +his own world, as many a wolf and mountain sheep knew to their cost. +Many and many a lamb and wolf-cub had gone to the feeding of +Kennebec's children in their dizzy eyrie built among the steeples of +the rocks. But as long as Kennebec kept to his own canyon, and did +not cast a wicked eye upon her babies, Nitka did not worry about him, +and had all her senses on the watch for danger nearer at hand. For +in spite of all her look of outward laziness, every nerve that she +had, every muscle of her strong body, was ready at a moment's notice +to send her flying at any creature which dared to venture within +striking distance of the den. + +For a long time nothing happened. Then Nitka growled softly, looking +at Shasta as she did so. Now Shasta knew perfectly well that the +growl was meant for him. Up to the present he had been disobedient, +though he didn't quite know how. Nitka wished him to return to the +cave with the cubs, and Shasta, though he felt some instinct telling +him to go, could not understand what it meant, and so remained +exactly where he was. And so far Nitka had been very patient. She +had simply gone on wanting him to get back into safety, but she had +not looked or spoken. The soft growl, rumbling down there in her +deep throat, was not a pleasant thing to hear. It sent a thrill down +Shasta's little spine. He began to feel dreadfully uncomfortable, +and to wish that he was safe inside the cave. Yet still he did not +move, because the man-cub inside his heart was not inclined to bow +down before the wolves. + +Again Nitka growled, this time louder than before. And to make it +more pointed, she looked at Shasta as she growled. He had never seen +her look at him like that before. The light in her eyes was not at +all agreeable. There was a threat in it, as to what she might do if +Shasta did not obey. He began to edge away towards the cave. After +he had gone two or three yards he stopped. This behaviour of Nitka +was so curious that he wanted to find out what it meant. Something +was going to happen. Without in the least knowing what it might be, +Shasta felt that something was in the air. But there was no +resisting that look in Nitka's eyes. With a whimpering cry, Shasta +scrambled to the entrance of the cave. Once inside the den's mouth, +however, his courage came to him again, and he turned to look back. + +As he peeped, he saw the form of a huge grey wolf glide into the open +space. Nitka herself was large, but this other wolf was nearly half +as big again and much more formidable. His great limbs and deep +chest were wonderful to see. Between his shoulders was a dark patch +of hair which was thicker than the rest of his coat, and, when the +winter came, would become a sort of mane. He stood nearly three feet +high at the shoulders--a giant of his breed. + +As to Nitka herself, she was plainly in a rage. The hackles on her +back were raised; her body was crouched low as if to leap, her limbs +were bent under her like powerful springs to send the whole weight of +her great body hurling through the air; while, if her eyes had shone +threateningly before when she looked at the disobedient Shasta, now +they gleamed with a green light that seemed like living flame. + +So the two wolves stood facing each other, the huge stranger not +seeming to like the look of things, with Nitka snarling defiance at +him, and prepared to give her very life in the defence of her cubs. + +Shasta, peeping timidly out from the mouth of the cave, felt certain +that some terrible thing was about to happen. He was terrified by +two things: first, by the mysterious coming of the stranger wolf, +then by the awful anger of Nitka, which, if once let loose, must +surely tear the new world to pieces, hot white centre and all! +Behind him, in the cave, the cubs were motionless and made no sound. +They huddled closely together as if they knew, though they could not +see it, that, out there in the sunlight, a strange thing was +happening with which it would be fatal to interfere. So there they +huddled, and pressed their fat furry bodies against each other, and +tried to be comforted by each other's fat and fur. + +Then Shasta, looking out boldly, saw a very odd thing. He saw the +he-wolf make a step towards Nitka with a sort of friendly whine in +his throat, and Nitka, instead of springing at him, remained crouched +where she was. And although she kept on growling, and saying the +most dreadful things as before, somehow or other she seemed less +vicious, and the green glare was softening in her eyes. Seeing this, +the other wolf grew bolder, and drew closer step by step. + +It was a very slow approach, as if the giant he-wolf was fully aware +that any sudden action of his would bring Nitka on him like a fury, +with those long fangs of hers bared to strike. And then at last the +two wolves were so close together that their noses touched. And in +this touch of their noses, and the silent conversation which +followed, everything was explained and understood, and made clear for +the future. + +So that was how Shasta saw the return of Shoomoo, the father of his +foster-brothers, and Nitka's lawful mate. After that Shoomoo became +a recognized person in the world who came and went mysteriously, +never saying when he was going, nor telling you where when he had +come back. Only that did not matter in the least. The really big +thing was that when father Shoomoo did come back, he seldom returned +empty-handed, or I should say empty-mouthed, since a wolf uses his +mouth as a carry-all, instead of his paws. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +SHASTA COMES VERY NEAR BEING EATEN BY A BEAR + +The weeks and the months went by. Only Shasta did not know anything +about time, and if the months ticked themselves off into years, he +took no account of them. Each month he became more and more +wolf-like, and less and less like a human child. And because he wore +no clothes, hair began to grow over his naked body, so that soon +there was a soft brown silky covering all over him, and the hair of +his head fell upon his shoulders like a mane. And as he grew older +much knowledge came to him, which is hidden from human folk, or which +perhaps they have forgotten in their building of the world. He +learnt not only how to see things very far off, and clearly, as if +they were near, but he learnt also to bring them close by smelling, +to know what manner of meat they were. And if his nose or his eyes +brought him no message, then his ears gave him warning, and he caught +the footsteps that creep stealthily along the edges of the night. +And he learnt the difference between the three hunting calls of the +wolf: the howl that is long and deep, and which dies among the +spruces, or is echoed dismally among the lonely crags; the high and +ringing voice of the united pack, on a burning scent; and that last +terrible bark that is half a howl, when the killing is at hand. + +Yet it was not only of the wolves that Shasta learnt the speech of +the Wild. He knew the things the bears rumbled to each other as they +went pad-padding on enormous feet. Of the black bears he had no +fear, but for the grizzlies he had a feeling that warned him it was +wiser to keep out of their way. The feeling was not there in the +beginning, but it grew after a thing that happened one +never-to-be-forgotten day. + +He had been sleeping in the cave during the hot hours, and woke up as +the light began to yellow in the waning of the afternoon. He +stretched his little hairy arms and legs with a great feeling of rest +and of happiness. He felt so well and strong in every part of him +that the joyful life inside him seemed bubbling up and spilling over. +He was alone in the cave, for his wolf-brothers were now grown up and +were gone out into the world. Sometimes, at sundown or dawn, he +heard them sing the strange wolf-song--the song that is as old as the +world itself--or a familiar scent would drift to him, as he sat in +the entrance of the cave, and he would know it for the sweet good +smell of some wolf-brother as he passed across the world. And +sometimes Shasta would lift his child's voice into that wild, +unearthly wolf-song that is so very old. + +This afternoon, something seemed to call Shasta to go out into the +sun. Nitka had made him understand that it was not safe for him to +go far from the cave when she was away. Now she was out hunting, and +Shoomoo was off on one of his mysterious journeys, nobody knew where, +so there was all the more need for Shasta to stay close at home. +Shasta did not see why he should remain in the dull den all the time +that his foster-parents were away. Besides, were not his +wolf-brothers all far out in the world? Perhaps he might fall in +with one of them, and sniff noses together for the sake of old times. +He determined to go out and try. + +As he passed out, he heard the Blue Jays scolding in the trees. + +Now there is a rule which all wise forest folk observe. It is this: +When the Blue Jay scolds, look out! + +Sometimes, of course, the Blue Jays simply scold at each other, +because somebody has taken somebody else's grub, or just because they +have a falling-out for fun; but the wise wild folk pay no attention +to this, knowing it to be what it is. And when the Blue Jays scold +in a peculiar manner, then the wise ones now that there is danger +afoot, and that you must keep a sharp look out. + +Now, although Shasta was so young, he was quite old enough to +understand the difference in the sounds. Unfortunately, this +afternoon he was in a mad mood, and he just didn't care! He saw the +autumn sun bright on the rocks at the den's mouth; he saw the glimmer +of the blue over the tall tops of the pines. High above the canyon, +a dark blob circled slowly against the sky. Far off though it was, +Shasta saw that it was Kennebec, the great eagle, who was lord of all +the eagles between the mountains and the sea. Shasta watched him for +a little while making wide circles on his mighty sweep of wing. Then +he ran up the mountainside, and, as he ran, the Blue Jays scolded +more and more. + +If Shasta had not been in so mad a mood, he would have known by the +chatter of the Jays that the danger was coming up-hill. Also, if he +himself had not been running down-wind, he would have smelt what the +danger was creeping up behind. But the something that had seemed to +call him in the cave was calling to him now from the high rocks. So +on he climbed, careless of what might be going on below. He climbed +higher and higher. Close by one of the big rocks a birch-tree hung +itself out into the air. When he reached it he stopped to look back. + +Down at the edge of the forest he saw a thing that made him shiver. +From between the shadowy trunks of the pine-trees, the shape of a +huge Grizzly swung out into the sun. It came on steadily up the +mountain, its nose well into the wind. Shasta knew that he himself +was doing the fatal thing; he was spilling himself into the wind, and +even now the Grizzly was eating him through his nose! + +By this time Shasta was very frightened. He looked this way and +that, to see how to escape. He knew that he could not get back to +the cave in time, for it lay close to the Grizzly's upward path, and +already the bear was half-way there. The moving of his great limbs +sent all his fur robe into ripples that were silver in the sun. He +was coming at a steady pace. And, if he wanted to quicken it, Shasta +knew with what a terrible quickness those furry limbs could move. As +for himself, his wolf-training had taught him to run very swiftly, +but he ran in a stooping way, using his hands as well as his feet. +Only he doubted whether his swiftness could save him from the Grizzly +over the broken ground. And far away over the canyon Kennebec swept +his vast circles as calmly as though nothing was happening, because +all went so very well in the blue lagoons of the air. Nothing was +happening up there; but here upon the Bargloosh everything was +happening, and poor little Shasta felt that everything was happening +wrong. + +In his terrible fear Shasta started to run up the mountain. As he +ran, he looked back. He saw to his horror that the Grizzly had seen +him and had also started to run. Up the rocky slopes came the +terrible pad-pad of those cruel paws. And Shasta knew well that the +paws had teeth in them; many cruel teeth to each paw. And still +Shasta went darting upward, running swiftly like a mountain-fox. + +As he ran, a thought came into his head. If he could circle down the +mountain, he might hide behind the rocks till the Grizzly had passed, +and so reach the cave in time. For he had the sense to know that +although a Grizzly is more than a match for wolves in the open, it +thinks many times before it will attack them in their den. + +Again Shasta looked back. He saw that the Grizzly was gaining upon +him. He turned swiftly among the boulders to the left, dodging as he +went so as to be out of sight of his enemy. The longer he could keep +up the flight the more chance there was that either Nitka or Shoomoo +might return. He ran on wildly, the terror in him, like the Grizzly +behind, gaining ground. + +He saw the long mountainside stretching out far and far before him to +the northwest. He looked eagerly to see if any grey shadows should +be moving eastwards along it--the long, gliding shadows that would be +his wolf-parents coming home. But nothing broke the lines of grey +boulders that lay so still along the slopes. All the great mountains +seemed dead or asleep. Nothing living moved. Shasta ran on and on, +looking fearfully backwards now and then, and expecting every moment +to see the form of the great Grizzly come bounding over the rocks. +Far below him in the timber he heard the screaming of the Jays. +There was a fresh tone in the cry. Before, it had been a scolding of +the bear: now it was a cry to Shasta: + +"Run, little brother, run!" + +It did not need the crying of the Blue Jays to make Shasta run. He +was covering the ground almost with the speed of the wolves +themselves. + +Now he began to slant down towards the timber, darting down the +mountain, leaping from boulder to boulder in the manner of the +mountain-sheep. Yet behind him, faster and faster, as the rush of +his great body gathered force, the Grizzly launched himself +downwards, an avalanche of fur! + +Shasta knew only too well that, unless something happened, the chase +could not go on much longer. It might be a little sooner or a little +later, but the Grizzly must have him at the last unless he could +reach the trees in time. The trees were his only hope. If he could +reach them, he could escape. For among the many things he had learnt +of the ways of the forest folk, he had learnt this also: a Grizzly +does not climb. And it was in this one thing only that he could +outdo his wolf-brothers: he could climb into the trees! + +He looked back. The thing was hurling itself nearer--the fearful +avalanche of fur! Now he began to fear that he could not reach the +timber in time. The Grizzly was gaining at a terrible pace. And +then a thing happened. + +Down aslant the mountain-side there came leaping in tremendous bounds +the form of a big she-wolf. On it came at a furious speed, every +spring of the powerful haunches sending the long grey body forward +like an arrow loosed from a bow. And as she came, there rose from +deep in her throat a long-drawn howl--the mustering cry of the wolves +when the prey is too heavy for one to pull down alone. + +The Grizzly saw her coming but could not stop. He was going too fast +to turn so as to avoid the first onslaught. With a snarl of fury +Nitka sprang. + +Her long fangs snatched horribly. There was a gash behind the bear's +left ear. He snorted with rage, and tried to pull up. Before he +could do so, Nitka had snapped at his flank and leaped away. Then at +last, by a supreme effort, the Grizzly pulled himself up, and turned +upon his unexpected foe. + +By this time Shasta was well within reach of the trees. But some +instinct made him suddenly alter his course and turn towards the +cave. The Grizzly, seeing this, started again in pursuit of his +prey. Once more Nitka leaped, and the long fangs did their deadly +work; but this time the bear, turning with remarkable quickness, +hurled her off, and did so with such force that Nitka almost lost her +balance. A wolf, however, is not easily thrown off its legs, and +again Nitka attacked. Each time she sprang, the bear stopped to meet +her. Nitka knew full well what she would have to expect if she came +within striking distance of those terrible paws and not once did she +allow the Grizzly to get his chance to strike. And every time the +bear turned, Shasta was making good his escape, farther and farther +up the slope. Yet still the bear continued the chase, as if +determined, in spite of all Nitka's fierce defence, to have his kill +at last. + +But he did not reckon upon two enemies at once, and he did not know +that a second one, even more to be dreaded than Nitka, would have to +be faced before he could seize his prey. + +Shasta had almost reached the cave now. He saw the shadowy mouth of +it just beyond the clump of bushes where the great cliff broke down. + +Yet if the Grizzly should follow him into the cave! At close +quarters Nitka would be no match for the Grizzly. Those terrible +paws would have the wolf within striking distance, and then, no +matter how bravely Nitka fought, she must sooner or later be killed. +Yet, just at the moment, the instinct for home was the strongest +thing in Shasta's little mind, and so he made blindly for the cave. + +As he darted into it, something shot past it in the opposite +direction--something that leaped in the air with a noise that would +have sounded more like the snarl of a mad dog--if Shasta had ever +heard a mad dog--than any voice of wolf! + +Far away in the lonely places of the great barren, Shoomoo had caught +the long-drawn hunting cry of Nitka, and had answered it on feet that +swept the distance like the wind. With every hair on end, with eyes +that shone like green fires, with his chops wrinkled to show the +gleaming fangs, Shoomoo hurled himself downwards full in the path of +the advancing bear. + +The Grizzly saw his coming just in time, and raised himself suddenly +to give the wolf the blow which would have been his certain death. +Swift as a streak of light, Shoomoo swerved as if he actually turned +himself in the air. The Grizzly missed his stroke by a hair's +breadth. Before he could strike again, both wolves were upon him. +They sprang as with one accord, slashing mercilessly; then, in the +wolf fashion, leaping away before the enemy could close. + +The fight now became a sort of game. As far as mere strength went +the Grizzly was far more than a match for the wolves; but their +marvellous quickness put him at a disadvantage. Directly he turned +to meet the onset of one, the other sprang at him from the opposite +direction. They kept circling round him in a ring. It was a ring +that flew and snarled and gleamed and bristled; a ring of wild +wolf-bodies that seemed never to pause for a single second. +Sometimes it widened, sometimes it narrowed, hemming the great bear +in; but always it was a live, quivering, flying ring of shadowy +bodies and gleaming teeth. + +More and more the bear felt that he was no match for his opponents. +Hitherto he had had no fear of wolves: he had held them almost in +contempt. But these things that leaped and snapped and leaped again +seemed scarcely wolves. They were wolfish Furies to which you could +not give a name. + +Slowly, step by step, he retreated down the slope. He had given up +all thought of the strange wolf-cub now. His one idea was to defend +himself from these terrible foes, the like of which he had never +encountered before. Deep in his grizzly heart he knew that he was +being beaten. It was a new feeling, and he did not relish it. Till +now he had been monarch of his range, and other animals had respected +his undisputed right. Now the tables were being turned, and a couple +of wolves larger than he had even seen were driving him steadily +back. Yet he would not turn and run. Something in his little +pig-like eyes told the wolves that, whatever happened, he would never +take safety in flight. That is one of the ideas belonging to a king. +When his back is up against a wall, he must fight to the last. And +that is exactly what the bear was looking for--something against +which he could place his back. To the left, about fifty yards away, +a great spur of rock broke from the mountainside. If he could once +reach that, he knew that he could keep his foes at bay. He knew +also, that in order to reach it, he would have to fight every yard of +the way. + +And up above on the slope, a little wild face peered out from the +shelter of the rocks, and watched and watched with shining eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE END OF THE FIGHT + +It was a running fight that went on as the great grizzly retreated. +The one object of the wolves was to keep him on the move. The bear +made furious rushes this way and that whenever he thought he had one +of his enemies within striking distance. But as sure as ever he +attacked one wolf, it leapt clear with marvellous agility, while the +other, like a flash of grey lightning, had snatched at his flank and +was off before he could turn. Yet in spite of Shoomoo's greater +bulk, it was the onset of Nitka which punished the bear most +severely. For the time, Nitka was like a thing gone mad. Her eyes +blazed like green jewels, her teeth flashed in a grin of rage. The +long suppleness that was her body, bent, twisted, turned and doubled +on itself, in a series of acrobatic leaps which bewildered her foe, +and baffled even Shasta's eyes to see how it was done. She was not +fighting for any mere purpose of hatred or revenge; it was not that +she, as Nitka, wanted to conquer the bear. The thing that was in +her, the fierce unutterable thing that flamed in her eyes and stabbed +nakedly in her teeth, was her wild, strange love for the man-cub she +had so curiously made her own. She did not know why she loved him. +How should she, since the Great Spirit of the Wild had not told her? +It was enough that the Spirit had put the thing into her heart and +made it to remain. Her own wolf-cubs would come, and would as +certainly go out into the wolf world that is so wide beneath the +stars. But the little man-cub stayed, winter and summer, autumn and +spring, only growing larger very slowly, because it is the habit of +men-cubs and other gods to grow slowly, and you cannot build them +quickly with never so much rabbit's flesh nor caribou meat, swallowed +and pre-digested, and brought up again as food. So Nitka waged this +desperate battle for the life of something she held very dear, and in +her blind devotion would have sacrificed even her own life sooner +than that one morsel of Shasta's hairy little body should suffer harm. + +With Shoomoo it was different. He had many reasons for fighting, and +they were all good ones. First, he fought for Nitka because he loved +her, and had mated with her for life. It was that which, when her +long hunting cry for help had reached him, had sent him sweeping +along the mountain slopes at such a headlong speed. Bound up with +that, the man-cub was her own special property, and therefore partly +his. He did not understand the man-cub. Shoomoo never pretended to +understand. Left to his own instincts he would not have loved the +man-cub. But since the thing belonged to Nitka, and was what she +loved, therefore it was for him to be good to it whether he would or +no. His second reason for fighting was just as good, and was that, +naturally, the grizzlies and the wolves are enemies, and have nothing +in common except the desire to kill, when the bloodthirst is on them. +But there was even a third reason as good as either of the others, +and this was that Shoomoo dearly loved a fight. It was not that he +was a disagreeable person, always ready to pick a quarrel, for he was +anything but that, and quite contented to go his own way peacefully +so long as no one disputed it with him. But when a fight was forced +upon him, or there was anything to be gained by being fierce, then he +wrinkled back his chops in a most threatening manner, and made ready +for his deadly spring. + +So all these reasons combined made Shoomoo a very dangerous foe, and +were the causes which forced the grizzly, who might have coped with +Nitka alone, to retreat towards the rock. + +It took the bear some time to do this; but once he felt the rock +against his back, he reared himself up on his haunches, with his +little pig-like eyes red with rage, and towered above the wolves like +the giant that he was. + +Neither Nitka nor Shoomoo, savage though they might be, were so angry +as to be fools. They knew perfectly well that to attack a grizzly in +such a position would be the extreme of madness. One blow from one +of those terrible steel-tipped paws, striking with the force of a +sledge-hammer, and the wolf that met it would be knocked clean out of +the fight. So they contented themselves with crouching at a safe +distance, and waiting to attack again the moment the bear should +leave the rock. But if the bear ever had such an idea in his huge +head he thought better of it, and stayed where he was. And so the +time passed, the wolves not daring to attack the bear, the bear not +daring to quit the protection of the rock. And it was not until the +afternoon had waned into evening, and the sunset gold had melted +behind the deep forests, that the wolves drew back towards the den +and the grizzly slipped away into the dusk. + +It was many weeks before Shasta recovered from the effects of his +fright and was ready to carry his explorations any distance from the +cave. And though Nitka did not punish him, and Shoomoo said nothing, +going about his business silently in the same old way, Shasta knew +quite well that he was in disgrace and that he had better behave +accordingly. So he contented himself by sitting a good deal in the +doorway of the den and watching the happenings of the world from that +safe position. It was not what you would call a very tidy doorway, +and there was no mat on which to wipe your paws if you got them muddy +with creeping after young geese along the boggy borders of the ponds +on the barren. There was a fine litter of feathers, fur and bones, +and the little odds and ends of what had once been game. Shasta, +squatting humpily in the middle of the mess, looked out with large +eyes to snap up the happenings in the world as they fell out through +the hours. + +Not that very much happened that you could call important. Sometimes +a lynx or a fox would steal softly by, sniffing the air suspiciously, +and keeping at a safe distance, with sidelong glances at the den. Or +sometimes a shadow would appear and disappear between the stems of +the pine trees with bewildering swiftness, and a marten would vanish +upon his bloodthirsty way. And then, if larger game kept out of +sight and smell, there were always the grasshoppers and woodmice +chirruping and scurrying in the tall and feathery grass. But after a +time Shasta grew tired of this do-nothing life at the door of the +den, and began to take little walks here and there, though he kept a +sharp look-out, and was always ready to go scampering back to the den +at the first hint of danger. And one thing he learnt from his +adventure with the grizzly was, always to attend to the warning of +the blue jays. Whenever their harsh voices rose from the ordinary +gossipy chatter to a warning scream, Shasta would make off at once +without waiting to discover what it was that had caused them to sound +the alarm. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +GOMPOSH, THE WISE ONE + +The moons went by and the moons went by. The slow moons slipped into +each other and were tied into bundles, a summer and a winter to each +bundle, and so made up the years. + +Shasta did not know anything about that measuring of time, nor that +people talked of growing older out there in the world. All he knew +was that there were day and night, and that the great lights came and +went in the heavens, stepping very slowly upon gold and silver feet. +But he knew when the loon, the great northern diver, cried forlornly +in the night, that the long cold was at hand, and that he would have +to stay in the cave to keep himself from freezing to death. And then +it was that Nitka and Shoomoo exerted all their arts to keep the +man-cub alive; and when the small game grew scarce, and the caribou +hunting began, many and many a chunk of venison the little Shasta +devoured, and throve marvellously upon the uncooked meat. The meat +made him warm, and kept the rich blood at full beat in his veins; and +that he might be the warmer when he slept, he scooped a hole in the +side of the cave, filling it with dry grass and leaves and a lining +of fur and feathers torn from the outside of his meat. He learnt +this nest-making from the homes of the wild creatures he discovered +in his ramblings in the early spring and summer; for everything you +learnt then seemed somehow to be in preparation for the grim time of +the winter, when the blizzard howled from the north, and even the +wolves, and the caribou they hunted, had to flee before the blast. + +It was after many summers and winters had been tied together in +bundles that one bright September morning Shasta left the cave and +made for a tall rock, overlooking the gorge of the stream. When he +reached it, he squatted down and watched what might happen below. No +one saw him there--the little brown thing on the rock; and no one +minded him, which was even more important, because he perched above +the level of the run-ways, and of the creatures whose noses are +always asking questions of the lower air. + +But some one whom Shasta did not know, and who was wiser than all the +other wise folk of the forest, was also out for a walk that wonderful +autumn morning, and on soft and padded feet came softly down the +mountain slopes above Shasta's airy perch. And this was Gomposh, the +old black bear. + +Gomposh was very old and of a wonderful blackness. When he walked +out in the sun the light upon his fur rippled in silver waves. As +for his years, not even Goohooperay, the white owl, could tell you +how many they were, much less Gomposh himself. + +It was not any sound Gomposh made that told Shasta of his presence, +but suddenly, without any warning to his eyes, or ears, or nose, +Shasta _knew_. And this was owing to that unexplained sixth sense +which the wild animals possess, and which Shasta, after his long +dwelling among them, shared to a remarkable degree. He turned round +all of a sudden, and there, not fifty feet away, stood Gomposh the +Old in all the wonder of his black, black fur. + +For the first moment Shasta felt afraid. Here was another +bear--smaller, indeed, than the grizzly, but none the less a bear! +And now, if the black bear meant mischief, escape was impossible +because the rock was too steep for any foothold on the outer face of +it, and between its inner side and the open mountain stood the bear. +Then, in some odd way which he did not understand, the fear passed, +and he knew that this time he was in no danger at all, and that the +newcomer with the black robe would do him no harm. + +Gomposh waited for a while, observing Shasta with his little wise +eyes and making notes of him inside his big wise head. Then, very +deliberately and slowly, he came down the slope towards Shasta and +sat down on his haunches before him on the rock. For a minute or two +neither of them spoke, except in that secret language of eye and nose +which makes unnecessary so much of the jabber that we humans call +speech. But presently Shasta began to ask questions in wolf-language +and Gomposh made answers in the same. And the sense of what they +said was as follows, though the actual words were not our human words +at all, but deeper and sweeter in the meaning of them, and much +nearer to the truth. + +[Illustration: VERY DELIBERATELY AND SLOWLY, HE CAME DOWN THE SLOPE +TOWARDS SHASTA AND SAT DOWN ON HIS HAUNCHES] + +"Shall we be brothers, you and I?" Shasta asked, a little timidly, +for he was feeling shy. Gomposh looked at him kindly out of his +little pig-like eyes. + +"We _are_ brothers," he said. "I am old Gomposh, brother to all the +forest folk." + +"_I_ am brother to the wolves," Shasta replied. + +"You will find yourself brother to many strange folk before you are +much older," Gomposh said, and when he had finished he gave a slow +wag with his head. + +"Who are the folk?" Shasta asked wonderingly. + +"Ah!" Gomposh said, looking even wiser than before. He looked so +tremendously full of knowledge that Shasta felt very small and +ignorant indeed. + +"There are the lynxes and the foxes to begin with," Gomposh said +after a pause. But Shasta shook his head. + +"No," he said. "They are not brothers. We have no kinship with +them, we of the wolves." + +Gomposh looked at him for a minute or two without speaking, and +Shasta felt uncomfortable. + +"It is not for you to say who are not brothers," Gomposh said +gravely. "You are not a wolf!" + +Shasta blinked his eyes at that. It was the first time any one had +told him that he was not a wolf. + +"But I am!" he said. "Nitka and Shoomoo and the brothers--we are all +of the wolf blood. I have many brothers," he added, as if to make +the matter clearer. "They are all out in the world." + +"I am aware of that," Gomposh said; "but many brothers do not make +you different from what you are." + +Shasta could not think of an answer to that, so he was silent for a +little time, while something which began to be a question grew big +within his head. + +"If I am not a wolf, what am I?" he asked at last. + +"You will find that out later on," Gomposh said with aggravating +calmness. "At present it is enough for you to know what you are not." + +"But I don't know it," Shasta said bravely, because he was not going +to give way weakly before a bear, if he were never so old, and never +so wise. "How do you know that I am not a wolf?" + +Gomposh blinked and did not answer for a moment or two. He was taken +by surprise, and was just a little shocked. In all his long +experience, reaching over many years, no one had ever questioned his +wisdom before, nor asked him how he knew. The man-cub was very +impudent. It would have been the easiest thing in the world, with +one cuff of his big black paw, to teach the man-cub manners, and send +him spinning from the rock. But although Gomposh had a great idea of +his own importance, he had also a kind heart, and there was something +in him which went out tenderly towards the little naked cub, impudent +though he was. So he contented himself with being very stiff and +stand-offish when he spoke again. + +"I have eyes," he said. "I have also a nose. You are not wolf to my +eyes, and you are only half wolf to my nose." + +This was a knock-down blow to Shasta, and he didn't know what to say. + +"I am sorry if I don't smell nice," he said lamely after a while. + +"I didn't remark that you didn't smell nice," Gomposh said. "Smell +is a thing for everybody to decide on for himself. + +"What is the smell in me that isn't wolf?" Shasta asked. + +"That you will know later," Gomposh replied. + +"But when?" Shasta asked. "Today, or tomorrow, or when the moon is +full?" + +"That I do not tell you," Gomposh said. "When the time comes, you +will know." + +And that was all Shasta could get out of him. Gomposh either +couldn't or wouldn't say more, and when he had sat for a little while +longer he got up and slowly walked away. + +Shasta watched him disappear into the chaparral thicket to the left, +and heard him for some time afterwards as he knocked the rotten logs +to pieces in his search for grubs. + +For a long, long while Shasta sat where he was and gazed down the +gorge. An odd feeling that was almost unhappiness was in his head +and his stomach, and the feeling went rolling over and over inside +him and knocking itself against the corners of his brain. "Not a +wolf! Not a wolf!" the feeling kept rapping out. Then, if he was +not a wolf, what was he? he asked himself. His memory, groping +backwards into the dim beginnings of his life, worked hard to uncover +the secret of what he really was; but, try as he would, he could +remember nothing but the den and the wolf life that had its centre +there, and the happenings of the mountain and of the forest, and the +ways of their folk. + +There was nothing else--no shapes of tall beings that carried bows in +their fore-paws and walked always on their hind legs--nothing that +told him of his Indian birth. + +The morning slipped into the afternoon, and still Shasta sat +motionless, humped upon the rock. His eyes were down the gorge, or +on the opposite ridge where the tops of the spruces were jagged +against the sky. Down below him, on the old run-ways that had +threaded the thickets since the beginning of the world, the creatures +came and went. Shasta knew them each by sight. He had known them +all his life. Yet now, as their familiar forms came noiselessly like +shadows over the grass, he had a peculiar feeling of being separated +from them by the new knowledge that, somehow, he was of another +world. When the thin smell of the twilight came drifting through the +trees, then, and not till then, Shasta slipped down noiselessly from +his rock and stole homewards to the den. + +But in the dark the odd feeling was still questioning: "If I am not a +wolf, what am I?" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +SHASTA SINGS THE WOLF CHORUS + +It was one night not long after his conversation with Gomposh that +Nitka made it plain to Shasta that he was to accompany her and +Shoomoo for some unknown purpose. Shasta had grown used to the +appearing and disappearing of foster-brothers every year, and so the +four half-grown wolves that trotted by his side on the eventful night +were quite familiar to him, and did not perplex him in the least. + +It was a very clear night, with the stars shining down through the +tall tops of the pines and a faint glimmer low down in the north-east +where presently the moon would lift her mighty bowl of silver and +water the world with light. Now and then a little waft of wind would +send a shiver through the trees, and when it died away the stillness +of the forest was deeper than before. It was very dark under the +trees. Unless you had Indian's or wolf's eyes you would not have +been able to see your hand in front of your face. But the eyes that +were in Shasta's head were Indian with a wolf's training and were +almost equal to the wolves'. He saw many things which no child born +of white people has ever seen since America was discovered nor ever +will as long as the world shall last, because the dwellers in the +forest are very wise and wary and are a part of the Great Secret that +is hidden amongst the trees; and many of them are never seen at all +except by the wild animals themselves, and you will not find their +names in any work on zoology (which is the polite word for Natural +History), because zoology, after all, is only the science which +divides things into classes according to their teeth. + +Yet although Shasta's eyesight was nearly as keen as the wolves', his +speed was not as fast as theirs, and so the going was slower than it +would have been if the pack had been alone. For all that, Shasta's +pace was only slow compared with the wolves, and if you had seen him +running on all fours you would have thought that his speed was very +quick indeed. + +The order of their going was in this manner: Shoomoo went first (as +became the leader of the pack); after him, in single file, came two +of the cubs; Shasta followed next, with a wolf brother on each side +of him, but slightly behind, so as to guard him if any danger +threatened; last of all, with her keen eyes glowing like coals, came +old Nitka, bringing up the rear. It would have been a fearless +animal indeed which would have attacked such a pack travelling in +this wary way. Even a grizzly, or a bull caribou, would have thought +twice before encountering the combined force, and would have wisely +turned aside without disputing right of way. + +Where they were going--what it all meant--Shasta could not guess. He +had never travelled at night like this before. The most he had done +after dark was to go short distances from the cave and back again, +and that never alone, but always with either Nitka or Shoomoo +somewhere close at hand. But this long journey was unlike anything +he had ever done before. It was strangely exciting: it made the +blood dance in his veins. He felt that something big was going to +happen, and that now at last he would learn the secret of the wolves. +For although he had lived the life of a wolf all these years, there +was a feeling in his heart that there was something else, something +he had yet to learn, before he should be one with the wolves, as of +their very blood. And the feeling, reaching upward from his heart, +tugged at his brain with tiny fingers that groped always in the dark. + +After some time they left the trees behind them and came out upon the +open mountain. Then it was a long climb upwards, going aslant the +mountainside towards the east. There was more light now, for the +time of moonrise was close at hand. Shasta could see the vast +shoulder of the mountain hump itself up against the stars. That was +ahead. Behind, and to the right, the canyon plunged down into a +hollow of darkness that seemed bottomless. His ears caught the sound +of a dull roar. He knew it would be a stream beating against the +boulders and complaining huskily as it went. The going was faster +now, for the land was open, and Shasta increased his pace. Soon they +reached a bench, or terrace, along the side of a gorge. Running +lightly along this, Shasta heard another sound. It was long and +mournful, sliding up and down a minor scale of unutterable grief. It +came drifting over the mountains as if the wind carried it, dropping +it at times, and then taking hold of it again. Though it was so +faint it was not like the voice of a single wolf, but of many wolves +singing in chorus together by the silver edges of the moon. He +expected his companions to stop and answer it. He had often heard +them sing that same song at moonrise, or just before dawn, but, to +his surprise, the pack swept on as if they had never heard that +sorrowful voice sobbing along the air. + +The terrace came to an end abruptly in a spur of rock, but Shoomoo, +with a great bound, leaped to a higher ledge and the pack followed. +Shasta could not leap in the wolf manner. He climbed instead, using +his feet and hands with wonderful agility. + +The upper ledge brought them to the summit of the mountain. Here a +wide caribou barren stretched away in an unbroken extent to the north +and east. There was good hunting here, as the wolves knew. Many and +many a fat caribou cow might be cut out of the herd and pulled down +when the right season came, but they were not for hunting now. +Something quite as strong as the hunting cry was calling to them, and +they would obey it in spite of everything else. + +On the summit of the mountain the cry Shasta had heard before came +again. Only this time it was loud and clear, filling all the spaces +of the night with echoes that sounded hollowly from far away. And +now Shasta was aware that the wolves were not alone. Other dusky +forms were flitting silently on ahead, and to the right and left. As +they went on the number of these shadowy forms increased. They were +all going in the same direction, and evidently with the same purpose, +whatever that might be. + +Soon Shasta saw the great rocks rise up ahead. They had passed over +the summit of the mountain now, and were descending the brow. The +rocks, jagged and torn into all sorts of peculiar shapes, formed a +fringe to the downward slope. Beyond, the country fell away sheer to +the prairies below. As Shasta approached the rocks he saw that they +were alive. On all their ledges and pinnacles wolves were crowded. +There were many hundreds of them. He could not have believed that +there were so many wolves in all the world! And they were all +howling together in a wild, uncanny chorus that, to Shasta's ears, +was like a swinging song, very beautiful to hear. Only it was +terrible also, and sent shivers down his back. And his heart beat +wildly, and he felt as if he had not eaten food for many days. + +He could not tell how or why, but suddenly he found himself sitting +upon a rock, surrounded by the wolves. And then, as he watched them +with their heads thrown back, and their long noses pointed to the +stars, he felt something which he could not understand taking hold of +him. He could see the wolves plainly now, for the moon was rising. +She was behind the mountain yet, but the light of her coming was +abroad in the sky. + +Shasta looked round to see if Nitka or Shoomoo was close to him. At +first he could not distinguish them among the number of the other +wolves. Then he caught sight of the great bulk of Shoomoo at the +summit of a rock, cut out blackly, like granite, against the rising +of the moon. There were many other big wolves there, for it was a +gathering of all the packs, but none was as mighty as Shoomoo, +towering there, like a king, upon his rock. Once he had found +Shoomoo he did not search for Nitka or the foster-brothers. He was +simply content to know that they were there. It was upon Shoomoo +that his eyes were fixed, for he felt dimly as if, somehow or other, +he was the centre of the mystery and the wild heart of the song. And +then, immediately behind Shoomoo's giant form, a disc of silver +showed suddenly, and the first gleam of the moon-rising shone down +upon the wolves. + +The singing had been wild before, but now in the moonlight it grew +wilder still. It was enough to make even an Indian's flesh creep to +hear this uncanny chorus from hundreds of wolfish throats, rising and +falling in the stillness of the night. And for miles and miles, +through the endless spruce forests, down the black-throated canyons, +along the dreary barrens of the caribou, the wild song went sobbing +in a passion of despair. Not an animal, winged or four-footed, in +all that savage region but was awake and shivering to the sobbing of +the wolves. Kennebec, the mighty eagle, caught it, dreaming far away +upon his midnight crags. Gomposh, the old wise one, heard it, +sitting in the mouth of his cave on the blue pine hill; and, as he +listened, he rumbled a reply--a low, deep growl that seemed to roll +about inside him and never got farther than his chest. And far away +over the prairies, on the lonely ridges where the Indians bury their +dead, the coyotes caught the chorus and, howling dismally, flung it +back. Now and then, on the outskirts of the wolf-ring, a fox would +appear from nowhere, sit down on his tail, and lift his snout and +sing. For though, in the usual course of things, the wolves and +foxes are sworn enemies, on the nights when the great chorus is sung +the foxes are allowed to give themselves to music, and have no cause +to fear. + +But it was not alone the creatures of the wild who responded to the +cry. Far down at the foot of the mountain where the country of the +plains began, Shasta heard an answering chorus in the pauses when the +wolves seemed to listen for the echoes of their song. And the +chorus, too, was wolfish and utterly despairing, as if the prairie +wolves were gathering down below. Yet, though Shasta did not know +it, the answer was not a wolf one, but belonged to the Indian +huskies, those gaunt starved creatures, part wolf, part dog, which +the Indians have bred for long years, and of which the camps are full. + +In every pause between the challenge of the wolves, the answer of the +huskies was still wilder and fuller of despair. As the moon rose, +and the light became stronger, Shasta could see more and more plainly +what was going on down there at the mountain's foot. He saw peculiar +pointed things different from anything he had ever seen before. They +were arranged in a circle round something which was very red and +bright. He did not know, because there was nobody to tell him, that +this bright red thing was an Indian camp fire, and that the pointed +things about it were the wigwams of the braves. Beyond the wigwams +he could see a row of dark objects. These were the huskies sitting +on their tails, and sobbing out their sorrow to the wolves. +Sometimes the row would break and the huskies would rush wildly +about, yelping and snapping at each other as if they had suddenly +gone mad. And then they would gather together again, and sit in a +long row, and lift their sorrow to the moon. + +Presently Shasta saw something else. He saw forms leave the wigwams +and come out into the circle between them and the fire. They were +like wolves, but seemed to be clothed with loose skins that covered +their bodies and fore-legs. The thing which he noticed most +particularly was that they did not go on all fours in the true wolf +fashion, but walked upon their hind legs only, with their bodies +straight in the air. As far as he could tell, they had come out of +the wigwams to listen to the wolves. Yet they made no sound, and +continued to listen silently, not letting any voice which might be in +them wail forth into the night. + +The sight of these dumb creatures on their hind legs made Shasta +strangely restless. He wanted to lift his arms and loose his heart +out in a cry. And as he watched the figures, the feeling grew. He +could not tell--poor little wild soul that he was--that these odd and +silent forms were those of his own people; that he belonged to them +in his blood and in his brain; and that here, in the wolf-world, he +was an outcast from his kin. And the Indians, gazing up at those +black wolf-shapes cut out against the stars, little guessed that, +among that dusky throng, crouched one of their own tribe, kidnapped +long ago by an enemy and left in the forest to die of starvation or +be torn in pieces by the beasts. + +There was a long pause, broken by neither wolves nor huskies. The +silence was so deep that you could almost hear the shadows as they +shortened under the moon. + +All at once Shasta threw back his head and howled. It was the true +wolf howl, long, vibrating, desolate. The desire to do so came on +him suddenly, unexpectedly; a thing wholly strange and not to be +explained. The note sang out sharply into the air. It seemed to +rip, like a wolf's fangs, the silver throat of the moon. + +The wolves cocked their ears and listened intently. Here was a new +voice which they had never heard before; a wolf voice truly, yet with +some fine difference which set it apart from all others and made it +impossible to forget. + +When Shasta had ended, and the last dim echo of his howl had faded +from the rocks, he sat silent, shivering with fear. For now he had +done what only a leader of a pack had the right to do--he had broken +in upon the silence of the wolves. + +What would they do? Would they punish him for his impertinence? +Suppose some leader gave the signal for the entire pack to sweep down +upon him and tear him limb from limb? Nitka and the foster-brothers +would not be strong enough to save him. Even Shoomoo's giant bulk +would be of no avail against the fury of the united pack. Always +before when he had known fear, he had taken to his legs, and either +he had escaped to the cave in time or else Nitka or Shoomoo had been +at hand to save him; but he knew that his legs would be useless now. +The great fear seemed to take from them the power of running, and to +freeze him to the rock. + +He did not move a muscle. He did not even dare to turn his eyes. +Yet he saw everything with astonishing clearness down to the smallest +detail. There was Shoomoo, motionless on his pinnacle, his ears +erect, his hair bristling, the moonlight falling silverly on his dark +coat and casting his shadow blackly down below. And there were the +countless members of that vast pack equally motionless, equally +alert, all their heads turned in one direction, all their gleaming +eyes turned one way. And Shasta, seeing all those terrible eyes +fixed upon him, not only saw them, but felt them--felt the fierce +wolfish thought behind that united all the pack into one wolf-mind. + +The silence was terrible. No arrow-headed flight of wild geese came +honking from the north to break it. Not even the solitary song of +the white-throated sparrow on his fir branch slipped softly out to +show that he was awake and that there was a sweetness in the night; +and if nothing sounded, so also nothing stirred, nothing except the +wolfish shadows that shortened invisibly under the moon. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SHASTA JOINS THE WOLF PACK + +In that terrible silence when Shasta trembled with the fear that was +in him, and did not dare to move, the great thing happened. + +The stillness of the wolves, which was in itself so horrible a thing, +as if the whole pack was only waiting for some signal to hurl itself +upon him--began to show signs of breaking up. Here and there a head +would wag, and a lolling tongue show between white fangs. A she-wolf +would snap at her neighbour. A half-grown cub would lick his chops, +growling softly in his throat. A stir, a restless movement, set the +pack heaving. Teeth were bared and hackles rose. A thousand eyes +glimmered in the shadows of the moon. The restlessness increased, +growing moment by moment. The pack swayed, bristled, became one +wolf-throat with a growl like the rumble of an avalanche. + +There came a supreme moment before the pack began its dreadful work. +If nothing happened before the moment passed, then Shasta would be +doomed. It was then that the thing happened and that Shasta breathed +again. + +Like an arrow from the bow, like the avalanche itself, with a roar +like a mountain lion, the giant Shoomoo loosed himself from his rock! +Down he came, over the heads of the startled wolves, with a leap that +made the eyes blink. He brought himself up suddenly, right over +Shasta's body. The boy made no attempt at resistance, and was +knocked down by the blow. + +But even in that instant, while his head struck the rock, and he felt +a stab of pain, he knew that Shoomoo would not hurt him, that +underneath Shoomoo's protection he would be safe. + +He lay flat on his back, with the big wolf's body above him, blotting +out the night. A sweet feeling of warmth and tenderness ran in his +blood. Some sure thing whispered at his heart that Shoomoo would +tear the pack to pieces, or be himself torn, before he would allow it +to touch a hair of the little body that lay so confidingly there. + +The astonished wolves gazed at this extraordinary thing. At first it +looked as if Shoomoo had given the signal to attack, and, to the +younger wolves, it seemed as if the moment of the kill had arrived. +These half-grown wolves surged forward, leaping over the backs of the +older wolves, who, with more wisdom, hesitated, gazing warily at +Shoomoo. But these rash younger ones, in the face of Shoomoo's bared +fangs, realized their mistake before it was too late and drew back. +One, however, paid the penalty of his rashness. He was a trifle +duller-witted than the others. He failed to catch, as they did, that +swift message from mind to mind, which, among the forest creatures, +is like an electric current, warning them, in the tenth part of a +second, what to seek and what to shun. Even as they rushed forward +the other wolves had caught the message, and had held themselves back +just in the nick of time. The duller cub had blundered, and he had +blundered to his fate. + +Snarling with rage, Shoomoo met him in his leap, and with one slash +of his fangs, ripped his throat. Then, breaking his neck, he flung +him clean over his shoulders down the precipice behind. + +After that, not a single wolf dared to approach. The renown of +Shoomoo's powers as a fighter had spread through the wolf-world far +and wide. It was by reason of this that he was not known merely as +one of the great pack leaders, but held a position which made him a +sort of king over the combined packs. + +And now it was plain, even to the dullest, that Shoomoo had taken the +man-cub under his special care. If Shoomoo befriended the man-cub +any wolf who dared to dispute his right must run the risk of death. +Moreover, what was even more important, Shoomoo's claiming Shasta as +his, proved beyond any argument that, henceforward, Shasta would have +to be regarded as a member of the pack. + +The wolves, old and young, wise and foolish, looked on at this +astonishing thing, said nothing, and licked their chops. + +When Shoomoo had satisfied himself that the pack had learnt its +lesson and that Shasta's life was in danger no longer, he moved +aside, lifting his large paws delicately, so that he should not touch +the child. And then Shasta sat up, a little dazed because of the +blow he had received, and rubbed the sore place on his head, and +smiled at the wolves. + +And when Shoomoo, walking very deliberately and stiff-legged, his +tail arched with pride, moved toward his rock, Shasta went with him, +and took up his position at his foster-father's side. + +When they were seated together on the rock Shoomoo threw up his long +snout, and sent a deep howl shuddering to the moon. Shasta took it +up, and sent his own voice spinning after it. Then, as with one +voice, the whole pack replied. And then again that wild wolf-chorus +rose and fell, chanting, sobbing, wailing its unearthly dirge out +into the silent hollows of the night. + +And down below, the tall shapes of the Indians went back to their +tepees, where sleep came to them, in spite of the "medicine" of the +wolves, because sleep is the greater medicine. + +When the last wailing sob had died away, and the last lonely echo +came shivering from the peaks, the wolves began to go. There was no +signal for a general move. They went singly, or in little companies. +Shasta, looking down from his rock, saw the pack thinning by slow +degrees. As a single wolf, or several, departed, they seemed to +detach themselves from the edges of the pack softly, as vapours do +from the blown edges of a cloud. And these vapour-like forms drifted +across the open ground without any sound till they were lost along +the barren, or in the shadow of the trees. Soon, out of all that +vast pack, not fifty wolves were left. Then there were only +twenty-five. At last there remained but Shoomoo, Nitka, the +foster-brothers and Shasta himself. + +The moon was still high overhead, intensely bright and the shadows of +the rocks had a marvellous blackness. The vast and solemn woods hung +like folded nightmares, along the mountainsides. The silence seemed +like a solid thing which you could strike with a stone and set +humming. + +Shasta, breathing deeply after his howling song, looked down +curiously on the Indian village far below. The bright redness in the +middle of it still glowed, but less brightly than before because the +fire was dying. All round it the tepees stood in a motionless ring. +Shasta did not know that they were tepees, nor even that they were +not alive. They seemed to be waiting there and listening. Now that +the wolf-chorus was over he half expected them to move. No sound +came up from the huskies, which, like the wolves, had disappeared. +They had slunk back to the tepees and were now fast asleep. No +sound; no movement. Shasta wondered what it all could mean, and +where those strange wolves were hidden that could go upright on their +hind feet. It was a mystery which his little brain could not solve. +He wanted to ask Shoomoo, but something seemed to tell him that it +would be useless, and that Shoomoo would not be able to explain. + +Presently Shoomoo stretched himself, laid back his ears, and yawned. +Then he leaped down from the rock and trotted off. Shasta followed +at once, because he knew that the moment Shoomoo went the rest of the +family would move, and he had no wish to be left alone in that +unearthly place which seemed to lie somewhere between the gorges and +the moon. + +They went back in the same order as they had come--Shoomoo leading, +Shasta in the middle, Nitka bringing up the rear. Down the mountain +slopes, along the ravines, through the endless leagues of forest, +they passed in silence like a procession of grey ghosts. It was the +same trail also. Never for a yard's space did they quit that long +back trail. And they were the same wolves, not altered in the least +degree from what they were before. Yet to Shasta all was different +in an odd way which he did not understand. He seemed to be closer to +his wolf kindred than ever before--to have a finer sense for all they +did and were. Up to the present he had lived with them, played with +them, eaten and slept with them; but now he seemed to be one with +them as he had never been before. And this, though he did not know +it, was because of the singing of the wolf-chorus; because he had +sung himself, as it were, into the very heart of the Wild. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE VOICE THAT WAS GOOHOOPERAY + +Two days after the chorus night Shasta was out for a prowl by +himself. The prowling instinct was strong within him now. He loved +to creep into the forest alone and climb a tree above some run-way to +see who was abroad. The deer drifted past like dreams, lifting their +feet delicately and wrinkling their noses upwind; or a fox would +sneak along, ears, eyes, and nose on the alert, but never seeing +Shasta above him on his perch. And sometimes the wolves would come, +two or three in single file, and Shasta would make cub noises at +them, and take a huge delight in watching their astonishment as they +looked up into the trees. + +On this particular night he had not perched long in his chosen tree +when he heard the dreary wail of Goohooperay come sobbing down the +dusk. Shasta only knew Goohooperay as a voice, a dark unhappy voice +that wailed along the twilight and climbed up and down the night. +Goohooperay's body lived in a hollow hemlock, and slept there all the +day. It was a brown body and downy withal, and beautiful with fat +sleep. But when the sun had set behind the Bargloosh, and the +gloaming was beginning to gloam, then Goohooperay squeezed his body +out of the hemlock, and the fun began. + +It began by his sitting just outside his front door and ruffling his +feathers and stretching his great wings. That was to get the sleep +out of him and think what a nice bird he was and set his wits to +work. And when everything was in proper working order he opened his +hooded head and loosed out his voice; and then it was that, near and +far away, the forest People gave heed to the whooping cry and +answered in their hearts. Those who had been asleep in the thickets +during the drowsy afternoon stretched themselves and yawned. The cry +seemed to say "Good hunting!" and that now they must bestir +themselves and get abroad. To some it boded well, and would mean a +fat kill; but to others ill, and being killed themselves, for +Goohooperay himself was a killer, and very far from being a +vegetarian. But that is the way with owls; it is not a pleasant way +or a sugary way. If you are an owl, you do owlishly; and Goohooperay +was very much an owl. + +When he had sent his voice far along the dusky trails Goohooperay +would spread his wings and go sailing after his voice. And as he +glided through the tops of the spruces, or went swooping down the +gorge, he did not make the faintest sound to tell you he was there; +only a great winged shape would come slanting through the tree +and--_swoop!_--some rat or leveret would wish it hadn't been there! + +It was some time before Shasta learnt that Goohooperay had a body as +well as a voice. Often and often when that melancholy sound went +drearily past, Shasta would shiver with something that was almost +fear, and would wait for it to come again. And sometimes other +voices would answer Goohooperay's, and the echoes would be mocking in +the hollow gorges, but always there was something peculiar about his, +which set it apart from the others, so that you could recognize it +again. + +Goohooperay was feeling particularly cheerful this evening, and +whenever he felt like that he always put an extra miserable wobble +into his voice. It was very misleading of him, though he didn't mean +to deceive. As a matter of fact, he was a most contented soul, and +had never had an unhappy night in his life. As for the "Hump" or the +"Dump" or anything silly like that, Goohooperay would have _sobbed_ +with amusement if you had suggested anything of the sort. But he +loved pretending to be sad. To sit on a dead limb and hoot and hoot, +till his heart seemed to be breaking, gave him an exquisite delight. + +When Shasta heard the long, haunting cry which he had heard so often +before, he had a sudden desire to find out if there was a body which +sat behind the voice. So, without any hesitation, he slid down from +his tree and travelled towards the sound. Twice before he reached +the hemlock Goohooperay wailed his melancholy pleasure-note, and +unwittingly guided Shasta to the spot. + +At first Shasta could not see plainly what manner of person +Goohooperay might be, for the shade of the hemlock was very black, +and Goohooperay's front door was well within it. But when Shasta +stole up to the very foot of the tree and gazed up into the enormous +eyes above him, he realized that the voice had, indeed, a body behind +it. + +For a long time the bird and the boy observed each other in silence. +Goohooperay felt that it wasn't his place to begin a conversation, +and Shasta didn't like to; but at last he plucked up courage and +began. But the beginning, the middle, and the end of his +conversation were only odd little wolf-noises that he gurgled in his +throat. They were not in the least like words, but that didn't +matter, for behind each gurgle there was a thought which, by some +secret means which human folks couldn't understand, spilled itself +out of Shasta's head into Goohooperay's, and made the meaning plain. + +It would be impossible to tell exactly what they said to each other +in the shadow of the hemlock, for owl language is not translatable +like Arabic or Greek. If it were, there would be a Brown Owl Grammar +and a Brown Owl spelling-book, and some other pieces of monstrous +literature which we are mercifully spared. For the Brown Owl's +library is not bound in calf--though you can sometimes catch the +flutter of its leaves in the flowing of the air--and the letterpress +of the twilight is too dim for human eyes. + +Suddenly Goohooperay's great yellow eyes stopped gazing at Shasta, +and glanced outwards into the dusk. There was such an intense and +solemn look in them that Shasta looked, too. Just beyond the shade +of the tree he thought he saw something that went slowly past, but he +couldn't be sure. It had no shape. It was as if a piece of the +twilight had broken adrift from the rest. A little waft of air +accompanied it with a whispering sound. Then, whatever it was, it +had gone by, and everything was as before. + +Shasta was startled. He turned quickly to Goohooperay and asked him +what it was. But Goohooperay only swelled out his feathers hugely, +and was dumb. Then he hooted his long cry, listened intently to +catch the effect, and, spreading his wings, floated away. + +And that was how Shasta learnt that Goohooperay was a body as well as +a voice, and how he saw, for the first time in his life, the passing +of the Spirit of the Wild. For, indeed, that Spirit is little spoken +of in these our times, and I think seldom seen, for our eyes are not +accustomed to the old beautiful shadows that are for ever going by. +It is only the animals who see them, or those who walk continually in +the great spaces or have their dwelling within sound of the trees. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE COMING OF KENNEBEC + +The wolf-brothers were playing in the sun. There were four little +brown cubs, very fat and puppy-like, and full of fun. They chased +each other up and down, and had wrestling matches and biting +competitions, and all sorts of rough-and-tumble games. Shasta sat in +the mouth of the cave watching them and laughing softly to himself. +He had known many a lot of wolf-brothers, and they were always the +same funny, fat, frolicsome little rascals until they grew too old to +frolic, and began to get their fighting fangs and be ready for the +fierce work of the grown-up world. Shasta loved all his +foster-brothers and never forgot them, even after they had gone out +into the world. And not a single wolf-brother ever forgot him, or +would have refused to fight for him to the death if he were in +danger. Every year Shasta looked forward to the appearing of the +fresh lot of cubs, and loved them with all his heart as soon as they +were born. Only he had an instinct which warned him that when they +were very new babies they were not to be touched; for although Nitka +remained devoted to her man-cub, she would not allow him to meddle +with the babies while they were very new, and partly out of respect +for her wishes, and partly for fear of what she might do if he +disobeyed, Shasta never touched a cub until it was a moon old; while +Nitka, though she would never allow anything to approach the +cave--not even Shoomoo himself--while the cubs were small, would let +Shasta come in and go out as he chose, so long as he kept to his own +end of the cave and did not interfere with her while she mothered the +new family. + +This morning she had gone down to the stream to drink, and lie awhile +by the runway to see what might come by. She only intended to be a +short time away, and had left Shasta on guard while she was gone. +Shasta liked to feel that Nitka trusted him, and that he was doing an +important thing. It was a very warm morning, and everything seemed +at peace. A sweet, clean air blew along the trails, and those who +used them scented it delicately and went springily, because of the +pent-up life that was in them, and the goodness of the world. + +High up on the opposite ridge a lynx was sunning herself and her +kittens outside her den. With her keen eyes she swept the landscape +near and distant in a glance that noted everything and lost nothing. +Though Shasta could not see _her_, she saw _him_ and the cubs +perfectly. She was no friend of the wolves, as they knew full well, +but this morning the historic enmity between them seemed to lie low, +and she stared at the little group calmly with no blazing hate in her +green eyes. + +A big red fox came down to the edge of the lake. He stood with one +forefoot up, all ears and nose, scenting and listening for any hint +that should come from the trail; and, as he listened he wrinkled his +nose, wobbling it quaintly to catch whatever faint smell might come +drifting his way. + +In the shallows the buffalo-fish were basking on the bottom with the +water flowing softly over their gills, and the sunlight shining on +their scales. Up in the high blue a pair of fish-hawks sailed airily +on the look-out for food. But the buffalo-fish were so busy doing +nothing that they escaped observation. They guessed the hawks were +somewhere about, but they just lay low and didn't say a word; and it +is surprising how much mischief may be avoided simply by doing +nothing! Old Gomposh was having a good rub against his favourite +tree. It was plastered with mud and hair, and was quite as plain to +read as a book, if you only knew how to read the "rub." He set his +back against the rough bark, and rubbed and rubbed till the most +exquisite sensations went thrilling down his spine. + +But all these quiet little happenings were really of no consequence +to the wolves. What did matter was--although they didn't know +it--that, high up on the tall crags, Kennebec, the great eagle, was +thinking wickedly. + +When Kennebec thought wickedly some one was sure to suffer. He would +sit on the pointed summit of a crag, which was now worn smooth with +the constant gripping of his great claws, and his wonderful eyes +would shine with a strong light. Down below him, for a thousand +feet, the tops of the spruces made the forest look like a green +carpet worn into holes. And beyond that, to the south, the lake +glimmered and shone, and the Sakuska showed in loops of silver. Over +the lake Kennebec could see the fish-hawks at their fishing. He +looked at them in his lordly way, watching them, ready to swoop at +the first sign of a fish. He could not catch fish himself, but that +made no difference to his diet. When he felt like fish, he waited +till one of the hawks swooped and rose with a fish in its claws. +Then Kennebec would sail out majestically from his crag and bully the +hawk till it dropped his prey. Before the fish touched the water +Kennebec, falling in a dizzy rush, would seize it in his talons and +bear it off in triumph. But this morning he was for bigger game, and +the glare that came and went in his eyes was a danger-light to any +who should be so unfortunate as to see it. About fifty yards to the +left of where he sat a cleft rock held his nest. It was a huge mass +of sticks, filling the cleft from side to side. In the middle of it +two young eaglets sat and _gawped_ for food. Their mother would +bring it to them presently. Kennebec was not in a mood to worry +about that! They could gawp and gawp till she came! And if they +thought their gawping would have any effect upon him, they might gawp +their silly heads off without upsetting _him_! + +Suddenly he lifted his great wings, loosed the pinnacle with his +horny feet, and plunged into space. + +Below him the world seemed scooped out into a vast abyss. He rose +higher and higher till he was nothing but a speck in the surrounding +blue. + +* * * * * * * + +Shasta, watching the foster-brothers lazily, saw the speck appear in +the high blue. At first it was no larger than a fly. Then it grew +and grew till it was the size of a grasshopper, then of a fish-hawk. +And then the blue jays began to scold. + +Shasta had never forgotten the lesson of the blue jays. When they +scolded he knew that something was happening, and that you had better +watch out. He looked quickly about him on every side, throwing the +keen glance of his piercing eyes down into the forest and up among +the rocks. So far as he could see, nothing stirred. If any enemy +was approaching, it was coming unseen, unheard, along the mossy ways. +Yet there was no sign of any living creature upon the Bargloosh, nor +in all the wide world beside, except that solitary fishhawk circling +overhead. + +Yet, although he couldn't see anything, Shasta had a sort of feeling +that he ought to drive the cubs back into the den. They would be +safe there whether anything happened or whether it didn't. And the +blue jays went on scolding all the time. But surely Nitka must hear +them and know what was going on! If she didn't take the warning and +come racing back, then it was because nothing _was_ going to happen. + +Moment after moment went by, and still she did not appear. Shasta +was growing more and more uneasy. In spite of not seeing anything, +there was a vague feeling that something was wrong. That strange +warning which comes to the wild creatures, no man can tell how, came +to him now. The screaming of the blue jays had aroused him, but the +warning had come independently of them. It was so clear, so +unmistakable, that he made a wolf-noise in his throat to attract the +attention of the cubs. Then suddenly he was aware of something +overhead. + +He looked up quickly. The fish-hawk had disappeared. Instead, a +winged thunderbolt was dropping out of the sky. It fell from a dizzy +height with a rush so swift that it seemed as if it must dash itself +to pieces on the earth before it could stop. + +Shasta was spellbound. He could not stir. Then, before he had time +to understand, the thunderbolt had spread wide wings, and Kennebec +was hovering overhead. + +Shasta heard the rustle of those tremendous wings, and a swift fear +shot into his heart. But his courage did not forsake him, and, with +a howl, he sprang to protect the cubs. + +It was too late. Before he could reach them Kennebec had swooped, +and, when he rose again, he bore a wolf-cub in his claws. + +Just as he did so, however, and while he was still beating his wings +for the ascent, a few feet from the ground, Nitka, her hair on end +with fury, came leaping up the slope. + +As she reached the spot she made a mighty bound in the air, springing +at the eagle with a snarl. But Kennebec was already under way. +Nitka's bared fangs clicked together six inches short of his tail, +and she fell back to the earth with a moan of grief and rage. + +Shasta, looking on, felt his body shivering like a maple leaf in the +wind. He was terrified of what Nitka might do in the present state +of her mind. As Kennebec, flying heavily, passed slowly over the +tree-tops in his gradual ascent, the she-wolf's eyeballs, riveted +upon him, blazed with fury. As long as he remained in sight, growing +gradually smaller in the distance, she raged up and down, with the +saliva dropping from her jaws. She had been roused by the screaming +of the jays, and had come racing back as soon as she realized that +something was wrong. But she was too late to prevent the tragedy. +And now the horrible thing had happened, and she would never see her +cub again! + +As soon as her straining eyes could no longer follow the flight of +the robber, she hustled the other cubs back into the cave. But that +was all. She did not turn on Shasta, nor even so much as growl at +him as he sat shivering in the sun. He waited miserably at the mouth +of the cave, wondering if Nitka would come out and comfort him; but +she remained inside for the rest of the afternoon, trying to console +herself for her loss by fondling the three remaining cubs. And after +a while Shasta crept away to his look-out above the valley, where he +had met Gomposh for the first time. + +He had not been there very long before he heard a sound of rustling +and tearing to the left. Then the great form of Gomposh himself +pushed itself into the glare of the golden afternoon. He had been +refreshing himself in his clumsy way among the wild raspberry bushes, +and as he came out was licking the juice from his mouth. He came +along slowly, his little eyes glancing right and left for any sign of +food. There was a hollow log lying full in his path. He gave it a +heavy blow with his paw, and then put his ear close to listen to the +insects in its crevices which he had disturbed. Evidently what he +had heard satisfied him, for he ripped open the log with one slash of +his paw, and then proceeded to lick up the grubs and scurrying +insects. When he had finished, he caught sight of Shasta and came +lumbering towards him. + +As before, they sat together on the rock, and said nothing in a very +wise way. But presently Shasta unladed himself of his heavy heart, +and told Gomposh all his grief. + +And old Gomposh wagged his head slowly, and let Shasta understand +that that was only what had happened many, many times before in his +memory, and was likely to happen as many times again. Eagles would +be eagles, he said, as long as feathers were feathers and fur was +fur. And if wolf-cubs would also be fat and juicy and lollop in the +sun, then what were you to expect if Kennebec came by, and admired +the fat rolls at the back of their absurd little necks? + +But besides that, he gave Shasta to understand that Kennebec was +worse than other eagles, and had worked more destruction in his time +than any other person with wings. + +Shasta's talk with Gomposh was a very long one, for the thoughts that +were in them oozed out slowly, and trickled drop by drop into each +other's minds. Yet though the dripping was slow, the thoughts were +clear as crystal, and plain to understand! That is the difference +between animals' talk and ours. The beasts speak seldom and with +perfect understanding; while we humans stir up our thick brains with +a stick that we call an idea, and pour out floods of muddy talk! + +At sunset Gomposh lumbered back into the woods, and Shasta took +himself home. He crept very softly into the den, because he felt +that he was in disgrace. But Nitka was off hunting and the cubs were +fast asleep. + +Very early in the morning Shasta stole out again. He went along +swiftly, following a caribou trail that trended south. It was one of +the old forest trails which had been used for centuries by the +journeying caribou in their autumn and spring migrations. He went on +steadily, following the directions which Gomposh had given him the +evening before. Gomposh knew all the trails of the forest; where +they came from and where they led to; also what sort of company you +were likely to meet on the way. + +Shasta met but few travellers in that pale time just before dawn, and +of those he met he had no fear. One was a big timber wolf travelling +slowly after a kill. His eyes flashed when he saw Shasta; but Shasta +spoke to him in the wolf language, and in a moment they were friends. +And although Shasta did not recognize the wolf, the wolf remembered +Shasta, for he was one of those who had taken part in the great wolf +chorus on the memorable night. + +Then, when they had spoken a little and rubbed noses together, to +show that they were members of the wolf family, they parted, each +going on his separate way. + +It was late that evening before Shasta reached the end of his +journey. It was a place monstrously tall, and everything there shot +up to an immense growth as if it had been sucked upwards by the white +lips of the moon in the tremendous nights. Right before him a +precipice glimmered vast, and built itself up and up towards the +stars. + +He lost no time, but curled himself up at the foot and fell asleep; +and all night long his dreams were of Kennebec, whose eyrie was at +the top. + +With dawn he was up, and began to climb. Though the precipice looked +one huge unbroken wall, it had many crannies and crevices where you +might get a foothold if you knew how to climb; and that is just what +Shasta could do beyond everything else. He could climb a tree like a +marten, and among the rocks his foothold was as sure as that of a +mountain sheep. + +He went up and up steadily; sometimes he had to wait while he +searched for a sure foothold in the gigantic wall. Here and there a +shrub or tree would grow out of a crevice, and with the aid of these +he pulled himself up, hand over hand, while half his body hung in +air; and then the muscles of his back stood out like whipcord and +rippled along his arms. + +As he climbed, the depth under him deepened. He had long passed +above the summits of the loftiest pines. Now the forest was far +below him, and he was hanging between earth and sky in the middle +air. He was climbing from the wolf-world, with its old familiar +trails, to the world of the eagles, where the earth trails cease for +ever in the trackless wastes of air. What had Shoomoo or Nitka, or +the wolf-brothers, to do with this upper world where, surely, if you +went on climbing, you must come at last to the sheep-walks of the +stars where the pastures are steep about the moon? + +_And the world yawned under!_ + +A false footing, or the breaking of a shrub, and down he would go to +certain death and be dashed to pieces. Yet, in spite of the awful +spaces about him and that yawning gulf below, there was no fear in +him, nor any dizziness when he looked down. As he rested for a +moment, and let his eyes wander, he gazed down five hundred feet as +calmly as if he sat by the side of a quiet pool and watched the +mirrored world. + +If Kennebec had known what was approaching his eyrie on the +impossible crags, he would have launched himself out at the intruder +with fury and dashed him down the precipice; but he and his mate were +far away, having left before dawn for a long journey, and had not +come back. Up in the nest in the cloven rock, the eaglets sat and +wondered why neither of their parents returned with food. + +After a while Shasta could see the eyrie rock and the ends of sticks +which stuck out from the side. It was above him--right over the edge +of the precipice. He had just reached it and was holding on to the +branch of a stunted spruce which grew below the rock, when the branch +cracked. Without it the foothold was not sufficient, his feet were +only clinging to the roughness of the rock; and suddenly that great +chasm below seemed to suck him back. + +For one brief moment fear clutched at Shasta's heart, and he seemed +to feel himself falling--falling down the steep face of the world. +Then the muscles of his feet braced themselves, clinging to the rock; +before they relaxed, his whole body became a steel spring, and, when +the branch broke, his arms were round the stem of the tree. Once his +hands found firm hold there was no more danger; even with half his +body hanging in air it was a simple thing for him to lift himself +into the tree. In a few moments more he had scaled the rock and was +looking down into the eagle's nest. + +As soon as his eyes fell on the eaglets his fingers began to twitch. +They were horrible-looking things, scraggy in their bodies and +covered with dark down, with short, stubby quills sticking out here +and there. + +Shasta hated these quillish young monsters with all his heart. They +gawped up at him in their ridiculous way with their beaks open. The +thing he wanted to do was to grab them at once by their ugly necks +and send them spinning down the precipice; yet they looked so stupid, +squatting there, that it seemed a silly thing to do. If they could +have fought, and there could have been a struggle, he would not have +hesitated. + +The nest was surrounded by a litter of bones and odds and ends of +feathers and fur. If the eaglets were hungry it was not for want of +gorging themselves in the past; the whole place spoke of Kennebec's +ravages, and his constant desire to kill. Much of the food was only +half-eaten, showing that there was no need for all this slaughter. +It was left there to rot in the sun and to poison the sweet air. + +Shasta was still hesitating what to do, when his eye fell on +something which set his blood throbbing. It Was the remains of the +wolf-cub which Kennebec had carried off. + +At the sight of it Shasta became a different being; there was wolfish +rage in his brain and a strange wolfish glitter in his eyes. He saw, +in the ugly forms of the eaglets before him, the hateful offspring of +the hated Kennebec, the destroyer of his wolf-brother and the enemy +Of his race. + +The note of anguish in Nitka's voice when she beheld her cub carried +away before her eyes had not haunted his ears in vain. A wild desire +to avenge his wolf-kindred swept over him; and now the chance to do +so lay within his power--a chance which, in the countless moons that +followed, might never come again! + +The thing was big; it was tremendous. If the eaglets were destroyed +it would strike at the heart of Kennebec--nay, at the heart of the +whole eagle world! + +Shasta stooped. He seized an eaglet fiercely by the neck, lifted it, +swung it, sent it spinning dizzily out into the void. He watched it +fall, tumbling over and over, down the immense depth, and then strike +the summits of the trees. The second followed the fate of the first. +Shasta looked down savagely upon an empty nest. + +But what was that driving furiously up the long steeps of the dawn? +It was coming swiftly, terribly, a blazing fire in its yellow eyes; +and as the great wings thrashed the air the whistling roar of the +approach filled all the hollow space. + +[Illustration: WHAT WAS THAT DRIVING FURIOUSLY UP THE LONG STEEPS OF +THE DAWN?] + +Shasta needed only to look once to realize what was upon him; and +that now, if ever, he was face to face with death. + +Kennebec had _seen! He was coming back!_ + + + + +CHAPTER X + +HOW SHASTA HID IN TIME + +That fierce approach of Kennebec, sweeping up as from the remote ends +of the hollow world, was a terrible thing to see. Also, when the +sound of it reached Shasta's ears, it was terrible to hear. He knew +that there was only one thing to do, and that he must do it without +an instant's delay--to find some hiding-place where he would be safe +from those awful claws and beak; for Kennebec's anger would have no +bounds when he discovered that the eaglets had been destroyed. + +To descend the cliff as he had come up would be impossible for +Shasta, as he was fully aware. Once exposed upon that naked face of +rock, Kennebec would attack him with fury, and, ripping him from his +foothold, dash him down below. He took in his surroundings with a +swift glance. The place was composed entirely of rocks. They were +jagged and splintered by the frosts and tempests of a million years. +They wore a fierce and hungry look, like Kennehec himself. It was +the raw edge of the world. + +Shasta lost not a moment. He fled along the tumbled rocks, as the +mountain sheep flee when they are pursued by wolves. He could not +tell where he was going nor where the rocks would end. The instinct +in him was to seek refuge among the trees. Surely upon the other +side of the precipice he would find that the forest climbed! The +forest was his friend, if he could reach it in time. Under the +shelter of the spruces he would be safe. The great eagle could not +reach him there. + +But as he fled he heard the whistling rush of those fearful wings. +They were close behind him now--closer and closer! He did not dare +to look. He heard; he felt: that was enough. + +Now the storming wings were over him. Beating the air Kennebec +hovered, waiting for the swift downward rush, which, if it reached +Shasta, would be the end. For the moment the air seemed darkened +with the shadow of those wings! Then Kennebec swooped. But even as +he did so Shasta darted suddenly to the left. He had seen an opening +between the rocks, and, with the quickness which only wild animals +possess, had bolted in. + +By the tenth part of a second and the tenth part of an inch Kennebec +missed his aim. Instead of the soft body of Shasta, those terrible +claws of his met the hard rock. + +For an hour or more he hovered, raging over the spot where Shasta had +disappeared. But if he hoped that the boy would come out, he was +disappointed. Shasta might be half-wolf in his mind, but that did +not make him a fool. On the contrary, his wolf-like instincts taught +him to stay where he was, and to lie low as long as that winged fury +raged overhead. + +The place into which he had crept was little more than a crevice +between two enormous rocks, and could certainly not be called a cave. +But, narrow as it was, there was ample room for Shasta's little body; +and settling himself into as comfortable a position as possible, he +was presently asleep. That was part of his wolf-wisdom, learnt he +didn't know how: "When there's nothing else to be done, sleep!" + +After a time Kennebec grew tired of hovering over the crevice, so he +settled down on a near pinnacle to watch. Noon came and went. A +burning heat scorched the rocks. It would have been far cooler up in +the high levels of the air. Nevertheless Kennebec chose to sit +stewing on his rock, with the glare of his great eyes fixed on the +spot where Shasta had disappeared. And the glare had a fierce +intensity which seemed as if it were fiercer than even the sun's. +For the hard and cruel light in it meant death to whatever should +come within Kennebec's power to kill. + +Late in the afternoon Shasta woke, and peeped out to see if there +were any signs of Kennebec. But the pinnacle upon which the eagle +had taken up his watch was just out of sight, and Shasta could not +see him. In spite of the shade it was very stuffy in the crevice, +and the thirst began to dry Shasta's tongue. He thought of the cool +green trails of the forest, and water sliding under the moss with a +hollow trickle. Now that Kennebec seemed to have gone, it was a +great temptation to slip out and make a bolt for the nearest trees. +Although they were not in sight, he was sure they must be there, just +over the other side of the rocks. Yet, in spite of the temptation, +something told him that it was not safe to go. He could not see +Kennebec, it is true, yet a feeling--the sense that seldom fails to +warn the wild creatures when danger is at hand--told him to remain +where he was. And this obedience to his instinct saved his life. +For though Kennebec was out of sight, he was not gone. There he sat, +on the burning rock, sultry with heat, but even sultrier with anger, +watching and watching with the patience that is born of hate. + +It was not until the dusk fell, and the tawny light of sunset faded +from the peaks, that he rose from his perch and flapped heavily away. + +When it was quite dark Shasta crept out from his hiding-place and +made his way softly over the rocks. He went slowly, setting his feet +with the utmost care, for he knew that the least sound might betray +his presence, and bring Kennebec's terrible talons upon him, even in +the dark. At last, to his joy, he saw the summits of the spruces +glowing against the stars, and in a few minutes more he was safe +beneath the trees. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SHASTA'S RESTLESSNESS AND WHAT CAME OF IT + +After Shasta's exploit against Kennebec, he became doubly marked as a +person among the forest folk. Along the Wild news flies quickly. It +is carried not only by swift feet and keen noses: it seems to travel +as well by mysterious carriers, who spread it through the length and +breadth of the land. What these carriers are, and what is the manner +and meaning of their coming and going, only the wild creatures know. +_They_ see them with their large eyes which deepen with the dusk! +_They_ hear the soft whisper of their going on the wind-trails of the +air! We should not see them, you or I, because our eyes are too +accustomed to the artificial lights, and because around our minds are +built the brick walls of the world. But the wild creatures, whose +eyes have never been dulled by electricity, nor their ears stunned by +the roar of the motors, see and hear the spirit faces and the flowing +shapes which go by under the trees. + +So not many hours had passed before the great news of Shasta's coming +had spread through the wilderness. And particularly the wolves took +hold of it, and regarded Shasta as a sort of little god. No one had +ever dared to dispute Kennebec's mastery before. Kennebec was so +high and mighty that whatever he did must be suffered, even though +you raged against it in your heart. But now the strange cub had done +the unthinkable deed. He had done it and escaped. All those who had +lost their young through Kennebec's evil claws rejoiced that now at +last the tyrant was punished, and felt their wrongs avenged. Never +more would Kennebec feel safe upon his precipice that climbed up to +the stars. Feet and hands that had scaled it before might do so +again. The fear of it would haunt him through the burning days and +the breathless nights. + +Yet, in spite of Shasta's growing importance among his wild kindred, +a strange restlessness began to stir within him, and to move along +his blood. And when the mood was strongest, his thoughts turned +continually towards the place of the rocks where he had joined the +wolf chorus and sung himself into the heart of the pack. It was the +memory of the music which haunted him most, and when, from afar off, +he would hear some wild wolf-note come sobbing through the night, the +sound would set him thrilling till every hair on his body seemed to +be alive. Yet always, following hard upon the remembrance of the +chorus, would come that other memory of tall wolfish shapes, that +moved on their hind legs, and of that red glow in the circle of +things that did not move: all of it down there, at the foot of the +precipice, as if one looked down through the canyon of sleep to the +low lair of a dream. + +One day when the thing was strong upon him, he met Gomposh, and asked +him what it was. Gomposh said little, but thought much. He knew +that at certain seasons all things follow a craving within them, and +that it made them follow far trails, leading to distant ranges from +which they did not always return. The geese went north, honking +their mysterious cry. The caribou made long journeys, and deepened +the ancient trails. The mountain sheep left their high pastures, +guided by an instinct, which never failed, to the salt-lick in the +lowlands to the south. And now it was plain to Gomposh that the +strange cub had a craving within him also. It was not to find a lair +in the north, nor a salt-lick in the south. It was not to change +pasture for pasture, in the way of the caribou. Gomposh knew +certainly that it was none of those things; but that it was the call +of the blood that was in him, the secret Indian call, that penetrated +even through the deep forests, far into the inmost heart of the +wilderness where he lay outcast from his kind. But though Gomposh +thought the thing clearly enough in his deep mind, he did not worry +it into actual words. + +"It is a good restlessness," he said. "It is of the other part of +you that is not wolf. Follow the restlessness of your blood." + +That, in the sense of it, was what Gomposh gave Shasta to understand, +though he said it in his own peculiar way. + +After that Shasta's mind was very busy with the new thing that had +come to him, and before long he let it have its way, and started on +his journey by himself. The wolves watched him go, but did not +attempt to stop him. The growing unrest that had been in him had not +escaped them. For, apart from the feeling which it produced, +Shasta's outward behaviour was different from before. He came and +went continually, restless and ill at ease. The very air about the +cave seemed to breathe unrest, and the wolves themselves became +restless, though they could not tell the reason why. Yet, although +they did nothing to hinder him in his final departing, Nitka's eyes +watched him regretfully as his little body disappeared among the +trees. + +He travelled on without stopping until he reached the spot where the +great chorus had taken place. As he approached the neighbourhood, he +grew more and more excited. The memories of that wonderful singing +night came crowding back upon him. It was broad daylight now, for it +was at the middle of the afternoon; and when he reached the high +rocks, he could see far and wide over the foothills and the prairies +beyond. He marvelled at the bigness of the world, and at the vast +sunny spaces, shadowless in the heat. Out there in the immense +sunlight there were no forests to break the glare. The heat +glimmered and swam. It was as if the sunlight were a beating pulse. +From where he crouched first the Indian camp was hidden; but his +curiosity was too strong to allow him to remain where he was; so, +very cautiously, he crept to the extreme edge of the rocks and looked +over. + +There it was, the same strange circle of things which he could not +understand. Also the upright wolves were there, walking about +singly, or standing in little groups. Shasta watched them intently +with shining eyes. And as he looked, the confused murmur of an +Indian camp rose to his ears--voices of men and women, the barking of +dogs, and the crying of children; also a slow and measured sound, +which seemed to the boy to be even more disquieting than the other +unaccustomed noises--the beating of an Indian tom-tom for a sacred +dance. He was so intent upon watching the camp below that it was +only a slight noise behind which made him aware that danger was +approaching. He turned his head quickly and then remained spellbound. + +Not a dozen paces away stood a tall form, motionless as a rock. Its +hair was long, falling to its shoulders. A single eagle's feather +stood up straight behind the head. It was dressed in tanned +buckskin, and carried a bow of sarvis-berry wood. The quiver, from +which the ends of the long feathered arrows appeared, was of the +yellow skin of a buffalo calf. Shasta gazed at this strange +apparition with awe. Somehow or other, he felt that it had to do +with the camp down below. He was afraid of it. He wanted to run. +Yet an overmastering desire to look his fill at the thing left him +where he was. For a minute or two the Indian and the boy looked at +each other without making a sound. Then the Indian made a step +forward, and Shasta growled low in his throat. + +If Shasta was astonished at the Indian, the Indian was equally +astonished at Shasta. The boy's appearance was extraordinarily wild. +His matted hair fell straggling over his face. In order to see +clearly, he had to shake it out of his eyes continually. It was more +like an animal's mane than human hair, and gave him a ferocious look. +His constant exposure to the sun and air, unprotected by any clothes, +had thickened the short hair upon his body till it was covered +completely with a fine downy growth. + +When the Indian heard the wolfish snarl he paused. Through the thick +mane of Shasta's head he saw the gleam of intensely black eyes. Then +he advanced again. + +Shasta looked sharply to left and right, measuring distances. Then +he leapt to his feet and began to run. But he ran in wolf fashion, +on all fours. Fast though he went, the Indian was faster. He heard +the quiet pad of moccasined feet behind him. Terror seized him. His +one thought was to gain the shelter of the friendly trees. Before he +could reach them, however, the Indian was upon him. Shasta felt +something seize his hair behind. His first instinct was that of a +wild animal trapped, and he turned in fury upon his assailant. But +before he could do any damage, the Indian threw him down, and +fastened his arms with a throng. It was in vain that Shasta +struggled with all his strength to free himself. The Indian was too +powerful and the deerskin throng held fast. When he was finally +secured, his captor lifted him under his arm and carried him down +towards the camp. + +After struggling fiercely for some time, Shasta became still. It was +not only that he felt that further resistance would be useless. +Something seemed to tell him that, as long as he remained quiet, the +Indian would do him no harm. For the first time since he was a tiny +papoose, the smell that clings about all things Indian came to his +nose. It was an unfamiliar smell, yet, somehow, it was not new. His +eyes and his ears had brought with him no memories of his forgotten +infancy: his nose was faithful to the past. What faint, glimmering +memories of the Indian lodges it brought; of the camp fire, and the +cooking; of the buckskin clothes and untanned hides; all the clinging +odours of that old Indian life--who shall say? Now, as he was +carried captive to his own people, quite unconscious though he was +that he belonged to them, the Indian scent was a pleasant thing, so +that he was soothed by it, and even, for the moment, subdued. + +It took some time to gain the camp, for the downward way was steep, +and there was no trail. Moreover Shasta, lying limp as he did, was a +dead weight, and not easy to carry. At last the descent was made, +and the camp reached. The Indian put his burden down. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +SHASTA SEES HIS REDSKIN KINDRED + +Not more than a couple of minutes had passed before the news of the +capture had gone through the camp. The Indians, old and young, men, +women and children, came crowding round to see this strange monster +which Looking-All-Ways had found. Shasta, sitting hunched upon his +calves, glared round at the company with his beady eyes shining +through the masses of his hair. The Indians, seeing the glitter of +them, thought it wiser not to come too close, and every time Shasta +threw back his head to shake the hair out of his eyes, a murmur went +through the crowd. + +Looking-All-Ways told his tale. He had been hunting on the caribou +barren, behind the high rocks. On his return, he had come upon the +little monster crouching on the rocks where the wolves had gathered, +and looking down upon the camp. + +Poor little Shasta gazed at the strange beings around him with wonder +and awe. He did not feel a monster. It was they who were the +monsters--these tall, smooth-faced creatures with skins that seemed +to be loose, and not belonging to their bodies at all! No wonder his +eyes glittered as he turned them quickly this way and that, taking in +all the details of his surroundings with marvellous rapidity. The +thing excited him beyond measure. He felt a growing desire to throw +back his head and howl. + +For a time nothing happened. The Indians were content to stare at +him in astonishment, while Shasta glared back. Then the chief, Big +Eagle, gave orders that his arms should be untied. Looking-All-Ways +stepped forward and unloosened the deer-skin thong. Shasta submitted +quietly, for he had a strong feeling within him that it was the best +thing to do. Only he wanted to howl so very badly! Yet he kept the +howl down in his throat, and crouched, humped up, with his hands upon +the ground. + +Suddenly one of the Indians, bolder than the rest, touched Shasta's +back, running his hand down his spine. Like a flash, Shasta, +whirling round, with a wolfish snarl, seized the offending hand. +With a cry of fear and pain the Indian sprang back, snatching his +hand away. After that, the Indians gave Shasta more room, for now +they had a wholesome dread of his temper. If they had not touched +him, Shasta would not have turned on them. But the touch of that +strange hand maddened him, and set his pulses throbbing. It was the +wild blood in him that rebelled. In common with all really wild +creatures, he could not bear to be touched by a human hand. And all +his life afterwards he was the same. He never overcame the shrinking +from being touched by his fellows. + +After a while the Indians began to move off, and soon Shasta was left +to himself with only Looking-All-Ways to watch him. For some time +Shasta stayed where he was without stirring. He wanted to take in +his new surroundings fully, before deciding what to do. The only +thing about him that he moved was his head and his eyes. He kept +moving his head rapidly this way and that, as some unfamiliar sound +caught his ear. He observed the shapes of things, and their colour +and movements, with a piercing gaze which saw everything and lost +nothing. And because he was so true to his wolf training, he sniffed +at them hard, to make them more understandable through his nose. It +was all so utterly new and unexpected that it was like being popped +down into the middle of another world. Next to the Indians +themselves, the things that astonished him most were their lodges. +He watched with a feeling of awe the owners going in and out. Some +of the lodges were closed. Over the entrances flaps of buffalo-skin +were laced, and no one entered or came out. Shasta had a feeling +that behind the laced flaps mysterious things were lurking--he could +not tell what. Or perhaps they were the dens where the she-Indians +hid their cubs. If so, they were strangely silent and gave no sign +of life. Many of the tepees were ornamented with painted circles and +figures of animals and birds that ran round the hides. At the top, +under the ends of the lodge-poles, the circles represented the sun, +moon and planets. Below, where the tepee was widest and touched the +ground, the circles were what the Indians call "Dusty Stars," and +were imitations of the prairie puff-balls, which, when you touch +them, fall swiftly into dust. The tepee against which Shasta +crouched was ringed by these dusty stars, but he did not know what +they were meant for. He only saw in them round daubs of yellow +paint. And because he knew nothing about painting, or that one thing +could be laid on another, he thought that the tepees and their +decorations had _grown_ as they were, like tall mushrooms, bitten +small in their tops by the white teeth of the moon. But wherever his +gaze wandered, it always returned to Looking-All-Ways, who sat a few +paces away towards the sun, and smoked a pipe of polished stone. And +there was this peculiarity about Looking-All-Ways, that, although his +name suggested a swift and prairie-wide glance, which made it +impossible for one to take him by surprise, he had a habit of sitting +in a sleepy attitude, staring dreamily straight in front of him, as +if he noticed nothing that was going on around. Shasta, of course, +did not yet know his name. All he knew was that if Looking-All-Ways +had a slow eye, he was extremely swift as to his feet. And as he +watched him, he measured distances with his own cunning eyes behind +his heavy hair. This distance, and that! So far from the last +porcupine quill on Looking-All-Ways' leggings to the nearest toe-nail +on Shasta's naked foot! So far again from the toe-nail to the dusty +stars at the edge of the tepee; and from the tepee itself to that +lump of rising ground toward the northwest! Shasta began to lay his +plans cunningly. + +If he made straight for the knoll, Looking-All-Ways might catch him +before he could reach it, but if he darted behind the tepee, he might +be able to dodge and double, and make lightning twists in the air, +and so baffle the Indian until he could reach the trees. As always, +when in danger, Shasta's instincts turned toward the trees. It was +not until long afterwards that he learnt the ancient medicine song +and sung: + + "The trees are my medicine. + When I am among them, + I walk around my own medicine." + + +Shasta was nervous of the tepee--he did not know what might be +immediately behind it. That was one reason which kept him so long +where he was. If he could see what was on the other side he would +feel better, and more inclined to run. Another reason was the sense +of being surrounded on all sides by strange creatures whose behaviour +was so utterly unlike the wolves that there was no saying what they +would do the moment he started to run. Yet, whenever he looked away +from the lodges, there were the high bluffs and the precipices, and +the summits of the spruces and the pines, like the ragged edges of +the wolf-world. That way lay freedom, and the life that had no +terror for him, and in which he was at home. + +The more he looked at the tree-tops over the summits of the rising +ground to the northwest, the more he felt the desire growing in him +to be up and away. + +At last the moment came when he could bear it no longer. He glanced +warily at his captor before making the dash. The time seemed +favourable. Looking-All-Ways had his eyes upon the remote horizon. +There was a dull look in them as if they were glazed with dreams. +Suddenly, without the slightest warning, Shasta leapt and disappeared +behind the tepee. + +The thing was done with the quickness of a wolf. In spite of that, +the slumberous-looking mass of the Indian uncoiled itself like a +spring. The dream-glaze over his eyeballs vanished in a flash. +Instantly they became the eyes of an eagle when he swoops. + +Shasta had scarcely reached the back of the tepee when the Indian was +on his feet and had started in pursuit. This time Shasta did not +make the mistake of running a straight course. He made a zigzag line +through the outermost tepees, turning and twisting with bewildering +quickness. Even when he darted out into the open, he did not run +straight. It was a marvel to see how he turned and doubled. And +every time when Looking-All-Ways, with his greater speed, was almost +upon him, Shasta would draw his muscles together and leap sideways +like a wolf. And every time he leaped, he was nearer to freedom than +before. + +Suddenly something happened which he could not understand. +Looking-All-Ways was not near him. He was farther behind than he had +been at the beginning of the chase. Yet Shasta felt something slip +over his head, tighten round his body with a terrible grip, and bring +him to the ground with a jerk. When he looked round in astonishment +and terror, there was his pursuer fifty paces away, at the other end +of a raw-hide lariat! + +Shasta struggled and tore at the hateful thing which was biting into +his naked body. But the thing held. The more he struggled the +tighter it became. It was dragging him back to the camp. In a very +few minutes he was among the lodges again and knew that escape was +hopeless. + +After this attempt, the Indians secured him firmly with thongs, one +of which was fastened to a stake driven in the ground. They were +fond of making pets of wild animals. And now they felt they had in +their midst a creature so wonderful that it was more than half human, +and which might prove to be a powerful "Medicine" to the tribe. Once +more they crowded round the strange boy, and jabbered to each other +in their throats. Shasta had never heard such odd sounds. The +strange eyes in their hairless faces troubled him, but the noises +that came out of their mouths made him tingle all over. It was not +until near sunset that the crowd separated, the Indians going back to +their evening meal. + +Shasta looked wistfully at the sun as it dipped to the mountains, +rested for a moment or two upon their summits and then disappeared. +The sun was going to his tepee, and the stars which decorated it were +not dusty. But they would not bind him with deer-thongs, the people +in those lodges; for nothing is bound there, where the sun and moon +go upon the ancient trails. And of those trails only the +"wolf-trail" is visible, worn across the heavens by the moccasins of +the Indian dead. + +The smell of the cooking came to Shasta's nose, and tickled it +pleasantly. Not far off, a group of squaws were cooking buffalo +tongues. Seeing his eyes upon them, one of them took a tongue from +the pot and threw it to him with a laugh. Shasta drew back, eyeing +it suspiciously--this steaming, smelling thing which lay upon the +ground. But by degrees the pleasant smell of it overcame him, and he +began to eat. It was his first taste of cooked food. When he had +finished, he licked his lips with satisfaction, and wished for more. +But though the squaws laughed at him, they did not offer him another, +for buffalo tongues are a delicacy and not to be lightly given away. +The smoke of many fires was now rising from the lodges. Besides the +cooking, Shasta could smell the sweet smell of burning cottonwood. +As the dusk fell and twilight deepened into night, the lodges shone +out more and more plainly, lit by inside fires. And in the rising +and falling of the flames the painted animals upon the hides seemed +to quiver into life, and to chase each other continually round the +circles of the tepees. Then, one by one, the fires died down, and +the lodges ceased to shine. They became dark and silent, hiding the +sleepers within. Only one here and there would give out a ghostly +glimmer like a sentinel who watched. + +As long as the lodges glimmered Shasta did not dare to move. He felt +as if the dusty stars of them were eyes upon him. But when the last +glimmer died, and all the tepees were dark, he began to move +stealthily backwards and forwards, tugging at the thongs. + +But, try as he would, he could not loosen them. They were too +cunningly arranged for his unskilled fingers to undo, and when he +tried his strong white teeth upon them he had no better success. + +The camp was very still. Presently the wind rose and made the lodge +ears flap gently. Shasta did not know what it was, and the sound +made him uneasy. All at once there was another sound which set his +pulses throbbing. + +It was a long, sobbing cry, coming down from the mountains. In the +midst of his strange surroundings it was like a voice from home. He +knew it for the voice of a wolf-brother walking along the high roof +of the world. He waited for it to come again. In the pause, nothing +broke the stillness, except the gentle flap, flap of the lodge-ears +at the top of the tepees. + +Again the cry came. This time it sounded less clear, as if the wolf +were farther away. Shasta felt a desperate sense of loneliness. He +was being left to his fate. If the wolf-brother went away and did +not know that he was there, how would he carry a message to the rest +of the pack? For if Nitka only knew that he was taken captive by +these strange man-wolves, surely she would come and rescue him, if +any power of rescue lay in her feet and paws. + +Shasta did not wait any longer. He threw his head backwards and let +out a long, howling cry. It was the genuine wolf-cry. Any wolf +hearing it would recognize it at once, and answer it in his mind even +if he did not give tongue. + +The noise aroused the Indian huskies, but before they yelped a reply +the wolf on the mountains howled again, and Shasta knew that his call +had been answered. He howled back louder and more desperately than +before. The mournful singing note went with a throb and a quiver far +into the night, and the wind, catching it, sped it farther on its +way. Again the answering cry came back from the mountains. It came +singing down the canyon like a live and quivering thing. + +Now the huskies could bear it no longer. They broke out into a loud +clamour, rushing about wildly, and yelping at the top of their +voices. In a moment, the whole camp was astir. The Indians rushed +out of their lodges to see what was the matter, shouting to each +other and bidding the women and children stay where they were. +Looking-All-Ways came running to Shasta, fearing lest he should have +escaped. But Shasta, the cause of it all, sat there quietly crouched +in front of the tepee, and making no outward sign, though every nerve +in his body was tingling with excitement. + +It was some time before the camp settled down again and peace was +restored. Every now and again a husky would whine uneasily, or give +the ghost-bark which Indians say the dogs give when spirits are +abroad. But by decrees even these uneasy ones dropped off to sleep, +and no sound broke the intense stillness which brooded over the camp. + +Shasta, however, had no thought of sleep. His mind and body were +both wide awake. To him the silence was only a cloak, which muffled, +but did not kill, all sorts of fine sounds that trembled on the air. + +The wind had dropped now, and the flapping of the lodge-ears had +ceased. He listened intently, waiting, always waiting, for what he +knew would come. + +It was in the strange hour just before dawn that two grey wolf-shapes +came loping down the mountainside. They approached the camp warily, +bellies close to the ground, and eyes a-glimmer in the dark. + +It was Nitka and Shoomoo. + +The huskies were fast asleep and did not hear them. On they came, +moving as soundlessly as the shadows which they seemed. + +They crept in among the ring of tepees. On all sides lay the +sleeping Indians, unconscious that, in their very midst, two great +wolves were creeping towards their goal. If Shasta had been on the +leeward side, he would have scented their approach, but he sat +crouched to the windward of the wolves and was not aware of their +coming until they had actually entered the camp. Then his wolf-sense +warned him that something not Indian was moving between the lodges. +So that when, suddenly, Nitka's long body glided into view, he was +not astonished, and not in the least alarmed. Her cold nose against +his arm, and then the warm caress of her tongue, told him all she +wanted him to know. Close behind her stood Shoomoo. But he did not +caress Shasta. As usual, he kept his feelings to himself, and waited +for Nitka to take the lead. + +Nitka had never seen deer-thongs before, nor how they could bind you +so that you could not move. But her keen brain soon took in the +problem, and once her brain grasped the thing she was ready to act. +Holding down with one paw the thong which bound Shasta to the stake, +she set her gleaming teeth to work. Shoomoo followed her example, +and in a very few minutes the thing was cut, and Shasta was once more +free. + +Directly Shasta felt that he was free, a wild joy took possession of +him. It was not the Indians themselves that terrified him so much as +the feeling of being a prisoner in their hands. To be bound, to be +helpless, not to be able to run when you wished--that was the +terrible thing. The creatures themselves--the smooth-faced +hind-leg-walking wolves--seemed harmless enough. At least, they had +not yet shown any signs of wanting to hurt him. And something almost +drew him to them with a drawing which he could not understand. +Still, the thing which made it impossible to feel they were really +friends was this being bound in their midst, with this horrible +rawhide thong. Directly Nitka's teeth had done the work, and he felt +that he could move from the stake, his own thought was to make sure +of his freedom by leaving the camp without a moment's delay. + +So far, nothing seemed to have warned the Indians what was going on. +The camp was wonderfully still. In a few minutes more the dawn would +break. When it did, danger would begin for all wild things within or +near the circle of the camp. Above, the stars still shone brightly +between the slow drift of the clouds. The tall shapes of the lodges +loomed black and threatening, like creatures that watched. Now that +the work for which they had come was finished, both Nitka and Shoomoo +were uneasy and anxious to be gone. The smells of the camp did not +please them as they had pleased Shasta. To their noses, they were +the danger scents of something which they did not understand. And +_fear_ was in their hearts. It was not the fear that wild animals +have of each other; it was deeper down. It was the instinctive fear +of man. + +As soon as she had gnawed through the thong, and nosed at Shasta to +satisfy herself that he was not only free but able to make use of his +legs, Nitka gave the sign to Shoomoo. What sign it was, no one not +born of wolf blood could have told you. Even Shasta could not have +done so, though he was aware that the sign was given, for the +unspoken sign-language of the animals is not to be cramped into the +narrow shapes of human speech. Whatever the sign was, Shoomoo +obeyed. He slid round the nearest tepee as noiselessly as if his +great body floated on the air. Shasta followed, with Nitka close +behind. She had led the way into the camp, because of her greater +cunning, but now it was for Shoomoo to find the way out. Her place +now was close to her strange cub, so that she could protect him on +the instant from any danger that might threaten. + +Two grey shadows had drifted into camp. Now three were stealing out, +under the stars, and no human eye watched their stealthy departure. +All would have been well, if an unlucky husky dog had not happened to +wake as the three shadows glided past. + +There was a short bark, a rush, and a worrying snarl. Then one +piercing yelp rent the silence, and the husky lay a bleeding form, +thrown by Shoomoo's jaws three yards away. With that the whole husky +pack was on its feet, roused from its slumbers in an instant. At +least twenty furious dogs hurled themselves at the wolves. Never had +Nitka and Shoomoo a finer chance to show their fighting power. From +two large grey timber-wolves they seemed to transform themselves into +leaping whirlwinds that snatched and tore, and flung husky dogs like +chaff into the air. At first Shasta was in the centre of the fight. +He could not, of course, help his foster parents, for his teeth and +hands were useless at such a time; all he could do was to save +himself as much as possible from the brunt of the attack. This he +did by crouching, leaping and running when the right moment came. +Beyond everything else, he kept his throat protected with his arms, +for his wolf-knowledge and training taught him that this was the +danger spot, which if you did not guard, meant the losing of your +life. + +Once or twice he felt a stinging pain, as a husky snatched at him and +the sharp teeth scored his flesh; but each time the dog paid dearly +for his rashness, and was not for biting any more. It was only when +Nitka or Shoomoo was busy finishing a dog that the thing happened. +Otherwise, they kept close to Shasta, one on each side, guarding him +from attack. Each time Shasta was touched, Nitka's anger passed all +bounds. She not only punished the offender with death, but she tore +at the other dogs with redoubled fury. + +So the fight rolled towards the forest--a yapping, snarling mass of +leaping bodies and snatching teeth. In its track the bodies of dead +and dying huskies lay bleeding on the dark ground. + +The thing that Shasta dreaded most was lest the Indians should come +to the rescue of their dogs. But having had one false alarm, they +did not trouble to rouse themselves again, and even Looking-All-Ways +remained on his bed of buffalo robes and said evil things of the +huskies for disturbing his repose. + +It was not many minutes before the fight was over. The huskies, +finding themselves outmatched by the superior strength and fury of +the wolves, began to lose heart. When the moment came that they had +had enough of it, the wolves seemed to know it by instinct They +passed in a flash, from defence to attack, and, covering Shasta's +retreat towards the trees, they charged the pack with unequalled +fury. Such an onset was irresistible. The huskies gave way before +it, completely routed. Their only care was how to save their skins, +as they fled, yelping into the night. Of the twenty dogs which had +attacked the wolves, only ten found their way back to camp; and of +these many had ugly wounds which they carried as scars to the end of +their days. It had been so great a fight that the Indians marvelled +when the morning light showed them the blood-stained ground and the +bodies of the dogs that had died in the fray. + +All the way back through the dark woods Shasta felt a great joy +within him. And the gloom seemed alive with things that gave him +greeting as he ran. He could not see them clearly--those things. +Yet now and then something shadowy stirred, and swayed towards him, +or drifted softly by. And though they were so faint and shadowy, he +knew them for the good, secret things of the forest, which none but +the wild creatures know. His wounds were a little sore, but, even as +he ran, Nitka found time to doctor them with her tongue. She paid no +heed to her own. There would be time enough to attend to them when +they had reached the den. Neither she nor Shoomoo had really +dangerous wounds, although they were bleeding in many places. A day +or two's rest and licking would make them all right, and as long as +their man-cub was safe they did not care. + +It was bright morning before they reached the den. The sun had risen +and was pouring down upon the Bargloosh all the freshness of his +early beams. From the tip of a fir branch, a clear little song +slipped into the morning air. It was Killooleet, the white-throated +sparrow, trilling his morning tune. He had his nest somewhere near +the den, only the wolves never found out where. All they knew him by +was his song, and the flicker of his flight as he darted daintily +past. The very fanning of his wings seemed to sweeten the air. As +for his song--he spilt it out at them in little trickling tunes all +through the day, or whenever he happened to wake up in the night. +The old wolves didn't mind him much, one way or the other, but Shasta +was fond of him, and used to make a gurgle in his throat whenever +Killooleet spilt his voice. And now, as he approached the cave, the +song of Killooleet seemed a welcome home, and when he looked up into +the tree there was Killooleet perched on the fir-tip, with the +sunlight shining full on his little wobbling throat! + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE BULL MOOSE + +Gomposh's lair was in the black heart of the cedar swamp. Old though +the cedars were, Gomposh had the feeling of being even older. He +liked the ancientness of the place; its dankness and darkness, and, +above all, its silence--the silence of green decaying things. It was +so silent that he could almost _hear_ himself thinking, and his +thoughts seemed to make more noise even than his great padded feet. +Under the grey twisted trunks, the ground oozed with moisture, which +fed the pits of black water that never went dry even in the summer +drought. Whatever life stirred in those black pits, occasionally +disturbing their stagnant surfaces with oily ripples, it did not +greatly affect Gomposh. He preferred not to bother about them, and +to devote his mind instead to the clumps of fat fungus--white, red, +pink and orange--which, glowed like dull lamps in the heart of the +gloom. The taste of their flabby fatness pleased his palate. It was +not exactly an exciting form of food; but it grew on your doorstep, +so to speak, and saved a lot of trouble. And when you wanted to vary +your diet, there were the skunk cabbages and other damp vegetables. + +Another thing that recommended the place to the old bear was its +comparative freedom from other animals. Goohooperay, it is true, +inhabited the hollow hemlock on the farther side of the swamp, but he +seldom came near Gomposh's lair, since his activities took him +generally to the open slopes of the Bargloosh where the hunting was +fair to medium, and sometimes even good. His voice, of course, was a +thing to be regretted, and when, on first getting out of bed, he +would perch at the top of his tree and send the loudest parts of +himself shrilling lamentably far out into the twilight, Gomposh's +little eyes would shine with disapproval, and he would make remarks +to himself deep down in his throat. But a voice cannot be cuffed +into silence, when it has wings that carry it out of the reach of +your paw, and so Gomposh had to content himself with a little +wholesome grumbling which, after all, kept him from becoming all +fungus and fat, and made him change his feeding-ground from place to +place. The only other bird that ever intruded upon his privacy was +the nuthatch. But as this little bird, being one of the quietest of +all the feathered folk, spent its time mainly in sliding up and down +the cedar trunks like a shadow without feet, only now and then giving +forth a tiny faint note in long silences, as if it were apologizing +to itself for being there at all--Gomposh couldn't find it in his +heart to lodge a complaint. He would lie in his lair for hours and +hours, listening contentedly to the fat, oozy silence, and observing +the solemn gloom in which the colours of the red and orange +toadstools seemed loud enough to make a noise, and wish that the +nuthatch needn't go on apologizing. + +The lair was in a deep hollow, between the humpy roots of a large old +cedar. It was dry enough, except when the rains were very heavy, as +it was tunnelled out on the edge of one of the Hardwood knolls which +rose up from the swamp here and there, like the last remaining +hill-tops of a drowned world. To make this hole still more +rainproof, and at the same time warmer, Gomposh had covered the cedar +roots with boughs which he had contrived cunningly into a roof! Oh, +he was a wise, wary old person, was Gomposh! and the experience of +unnumbered winters had taught him that when the blizzards come +swirling over the Bargloosh from the northeast, it is a grand and +comforting thing to have a good roof over you, thatched thick and +warm with snow. So to this deep cave in the roots of the cedar when +the wind moaned in the draughty tops of the spruce woods and the +frost bit with invisible teeth, Gomposh, bulging with berries and +fat, would retire for the winter, and sleep, and sleep, and sleep! + +Toadstools and various sorts of berries made up the principal part of +his diet; but as berries did not grow in the swamp, and after a time +he had eaten all the best toadstools in the neighbourhood of his den, +he occasionally found it pleasant to leave the swamp and ascend to +the blueberry barrens high up on the slopes of the Bargloosh. + +One morning, not many days after Shasta's return to his wolf kin, +Gomposh got up with the berry feeling in him very bad. It was a +little early for blueberries, but there were other things he might +find--perhaps an Indian pear with its sweet though tasteless fruit, +ripened early in some sunny spot. And anyhow there were always +confiding beetles under stones, and whole families of insects that +live in rotten logs. + +He left his lair, picking his way carefully between the humpy roots +that made the ground lift itself into such strange shapes, and +setting his great padded feet on the thick moss as delicately as a +fox, so that, in case some mouse or water-rat should be out of its +hole, he might catch it unawares with one of the lightning movements +of his immense paw. At the edge of the swamp he pushed his way +stealthily through a thicket of Indian willows and then paused to +sniff the air with that old sensitive nose of his which brought him +tidings of the trails as to what was abroad, with a fine certainty +that could not err. But, sniff as he would, nothing came to his +questing nostrils except the smell that was as old as the +centuries--the raw, keen sweetness of the wet spruce and fir forests, +mixed with the homely scent of the cedar swamp. Yet in spite of +this, he did not move without the utmost caution, and, for all his +apparent clumsiness, his vast furry bulk seemed to drift in among the +spruces with the quietness of smoke. + +Far away on the other side of the lake, a great bull moose was making +his way angrily through the woods, looking for the cow he had heard +calling to him at dawn, and thrashing the bushes with his mighty +antlers as a challenge to any one who should be rash enough to +dispute his title of Lord of the Wilderness. But as he was +travelling up-wind, and was, moreover, too far away for the sound of +his temper to carry, Gomposh's unerring nose did not receive the +warning as he ascended the Bargloosh with the berry want in his +inside. + +He was half-way up the mountain, when, all at once, he stopped, and +swung his nose into the wind. Something was abroad now--something +with a warmer, thicker scent than the sharp tang of the spruces. +What was it? There was a smell of wolf in it, and yet again +something which was not wolf. It was a mixture of scents so finely +jumbled together that only a nose like Gomposh's could have +disentangled them. In spite of his immense knowledge of the thousand +ways in which the wilderness kindreds spill themselves upon the air, +the old bear was puzzled. So, in order to give his mind perfect +leisure to attend to his nose, Gomposh sank back on his haunches, and +then sat bolt upright with his paws hanging idly in the air. + +The scent came more and more plainly. And as it grew, Gomposh's +brain worked faster and faster. The smell was half strange and half +familiar. Where had he smelt it before? And then, suddenly, he +_knew_. + +Shasta, stealing through the spruces as noiselessly as any of the +wild brotherhood, thought he had done an extremely clever thing. He +fully believed he had caught an old black bear unawares, sitting up +on the trail and sniffing at nothing, with his paws dangling +foolishly before him. It was not until the boy was close upon him +that Gomposh quickly turned his head, and pretended to be surprised. +Shasta, recognizing his old friend, came slowly forward with shining +eyes. + +At first Gomposh did not speak, but that was not surprising. Gomposh +was not one to rush into speech when you could express so much by +saying nothing. To be able to express a good deal, and yet not to +put it into the shape of words--to say things with your whole body +and mind without making noises with your mouth and throat--is a +wonderful faculty. Few people know anything about it; because half +the business of people's lives is carried on in the mouth, and they +are not happy or wise enough to be quiet; but the beasts use it +continually; because they are very happy and very wise. + +So Gomposh looked at Shasta, and Shasta looked at Gomposh, and for a +long time neither of them made a sound. But the mind that was in +Gomposh's big body, and the body that was outside Gomposh's big mind, +went on quietly making all sorts of observations which Shasta easily +understood. So he knew, just as well as if Gomposh had said it, that +the bear was telling him he had been on his travels; also that things +were different in him; that he was another sort of person, because +many things had happened to him in the meantime. Exactly what those +things were, Gomposh did not know; but he knew what the effect was +which they had produced in Shasta. He knew that the part of Shasta +that was not wolf had mingled with that part of the world which also +is not wolf, and that therefore he was a little less wolfish than +before. + +At first Shasta felt a little uncomfortable at the way Gomposh looked +him calmly through and through. It was as if Gomposh said: "We are a +long way off, little Brother. We have travelled far apart. But I +catch you with the mind." + +And Shasta couldn't help feeling as if he had done something of which +he was ashamed. He had left the wild kindred--the wolf-father, the +wolf-mother, all that swift, stealthy, fierce wolf-world that had its +going among the trees. He had gone out to search for another +kindred, almost as swift, stealthy and fierce as the wolves +themselves, yet of a strange, unnamable cunning, and of a smell +stranger still. And yet with all this strangeness, the new kindred +had fastened itself upon him with a hold which Shasta could not shake +off, as of something which his half-wolf nature could neither resist +nor deny. And the more Gomposh looked at him out of his little +piercing eyes, the more keenly he felt that the old bear was +realizing this hold upon him of the new kindred, far off beyond the +trees. + +When at last Gomposh spoke--that is, when he allowed the wisdom that +was in him to ooze out in bear language--what he remarked amounted to +this: + +"You have found the new kindred. You have learnt the new knowledge. +You are less wolf than you were." + +Shasta did not like being told that he had grown less a wolf. It was +just as if Gomposh had accused him of having lost something which was +not to be recovered. + +"I am just the same as I was," he replied stoutly; but he knew it was +not true. + +"The moons have gone by, and the moons have gone by," Gomposh said. +"The runways have been filled with folk. But you have not come along +them. You have not watched them. You have missed everything that +has gone by." + +Shasta made it clear that one could not be everywhere at the same +time, and that, anyhow, he had not missed the moons. + +"No one misses the moons," Gomposh remarked gravely, "except those of +us who go to sleep. It is a pleasant sleep in the winter when we go +sleeping through the moons." + +"Nitka and Shoomoo do not sleep," Shasta said boastfully. "We do not +sleep the winter sleep--we of the wolves!" + +"And so you do not find the world beautifully new when you wake up in +the spring," Gomposh said. + +That was a fresh idea to Shasta. He knew what a wonderful thing it +was to find the world new every day, but it must seem terribly new +indeed to you after the winter sleep. The thought of hunger came to +his rescue. + +"You must be very hungry," he said triumphantly. + +"It is better to be very hungry once and get it over," Gomposh said +composedly, "than to go on being hungry all the winter when they tell +me food is scarce." + +Another fresh thought for Shasta! If Gomposh kept on putting new +ideas into him at this rate, he felt as if something unpleasant must +happen in his head. If he had been rather more of a boy, and rather +less of a wolf, he might have been inclined to argue with Gomposh, +just for the sake of arguing. As it was, he was wise enough to +realize that Gomposh knew more than he did; and that however new or +uncomfortable the things were that Gomposh said, they were most +likely true. So he said nothing more for some time, but kept turning +over in his head the fresh ideas about newness and hunger, and the +being less a wolf. + +"You will not stay among us," Gomposh said after a long pause. "You +will go back to the new kindred, and the new smell." + +Shasta felt frightened at that--so frightened as to be indignant. He +was afraid lest the old bear might be saying what was true. And the +memory of the hide thong that had cut into his flesh and of the +horrible captivity when he had been forced to stay in one small +space, whether he liked it or not, made him feel more and more +strongly that he would not go back whatever happened. + +As Gomposh did not seem inclined to talk any more, Shasta thought he +would continue his walk. It was good to be out on the trails again, +passing where the wild feet passed that had never known what it was +to be held prisoners in one place. And as he went, all his senses +were on the watch to see and hear and smell everything that was going +on. Softly he went, without the slightest sound, putting his hands +and feet so delicately to the ground that not a leaf rustled, not a +twig snapped. + +But wary though he was, other things were even warier. Gleaming eyes +he did not see watched him out of sight. Keen noses winded +him--noses of creatures that kept their bodies a secret almost from +themselves! And so when Shasta suddenly found himself face to face +with a big bull moose he nearly jumped out of himself with +astonishment. + +It was not the first time that he had seen moose. In the early +summer, down in the alder thicket at the edge of the lake, Shasta, +watching motionless between the leaves, had seen a big cow and her +lanky calf come down into the lake. The cow began to busy herself by +pulling water-lily roots, and the calf nosed along the bank in an +inquisitive manner as if it still found the world a most bewildering +place. They did not seem animals to be frightened at; and even the +big cow looked a harmless sort of being whose mind, what there was of +it, was in her mouth and ears. But the huge bull now in front of +Shasta was a very different sort of beast. From the ground to the +ridge of the immense fore shoulders, he measured a good six feet. +That great humped ridge covered with thick black hair seemed to mound +itself over some enormous strength which lay solid and compact ready +to hurl itself forth at an instant's notice in one terrifying blow +which would smash any object that dared to challenge it. But what +impressed Shasta more than anything else was the great spread of +polished antlers on each side of his head. Antlers like those he had +never seen. It was like wearing a forest on your forehead: it made +you uncomfortable to look at: it was like being an animal and a tree +at the same time. + +The moose was equally surprised at Shasta. With all the creatures of +the forest--lynxes, catamounts, raccoons, wolves, deer, foxes, bears +and chipmunks--he was familiar. But this smooth, hornless, +round-headed thing was Like none of them. It had a shape and a +character extraordinarily different; and the big moose was not +pleased. There was another thing that he did not like, and that was +Shasta's smell. Not that this was so unfamiliar as his shape. +Indeed, something like it the moose had often smelt before. +Moreover, it was a smell that always made him angry. It was that of +the wolves. And yet, mingled with it in a curious and bewildering +way, there was another odour, not so pungent as the wolf scent, but +hardly less objectionable to the moose, and that was the smell of +man. What this might mean, the moose did not know. Along all the +lonely trails of his wild and adventurous life, he had never yet come +within sight or scent of the creature that went always upon its hind +legs, with cunning in its hornless head, and death that it shot out +with its hands. + +With his great over-hanging muzzle lifted up, and his nostrils +quivering, he looked at Shasta viciously out of his little gleaming +eyes. + +It was the wolf in Shasta that made the creature angry. From the +endless generations behind him--grandfathers and grandfathers' +grandfathers that reached back beyond the flood--there had come down +to him, through the uncounted ages, this hatred, born of fear, of the +wolves. It was not that he feared any single wolf. Few wolves in +all that immense North Land would have dared to attack him singly, or +dispute his lordship of the world. But when the snows lay heavy on +the hemlocks, and the nights were keen with a bitter air from the +white heart of the Pole, those long shadow-like shapes that came +floating over the barrens in packs, with the hunting note in their +throats, were not things to be treated contemptuously by even the +lordliest moose, at home in his winter "Yard." + +Shasta, on his side, felt no enmity towards the moose. He was not +wolf enough to have the moose-hatred--handed down, pack after pack, +since the beginning of the world--running in his blood. What he +inherited from his grandfathers' grandfathers were Indian instincts, +though, in his utter ignorance of his nature, he did not know them +for what they were. So he just stared at the moose with a great +astonishment, and wondered what would be the right thing to do. + +In spite of himself, he felt a little uneasy. Something--he didn't +know what--warned him that the moose did not like him, and therefore +was not going to be his friend. Left to himself, Shasta was willing +to be friends--if they would let him--with all the forest folk. And +as he never frightened them, or attempted to do them any hurt, most +of the creatures came to regard him as a harmless sort of person. +Those that did not, respected him too much to molest him because of +his strange man-smell, which was so dangerously mixed with that of +wolf. But now, here was a beast which, he felt sure, was so far from +being his friend that it would take only some very little thing to +turn him into a dangerous enemy. A movement, a look, a puff of air +to make scent stronger--and some terrible thing might happen: you +could never tell. + +Now Shasta knew several ways of making himself a bigger person, as it +were, and so more to be respected. One was to keep as still as a +stone, and to put all of himself into his eyes, staring and staring +till it seemed as if they must suddenly become mouths and bite; which +made the creatures so uneasy that very few could stand it for long, +and would politely melt away among the trees. Another was to make +some sudden, violent movement, and to give the hunting cry of the +wolves with his full throat. That struck fear into most animals; and +they would flee in panic, never stopping till they had put long +lengths of trail between them and the little naked Terror that had +the wolf-cry in its throat. But now, though Shasta put everything +that was in him into his eyes, the big bull bore the stare in an +unflinching manner, and stared back defiantly. He did more. He +began to paw the ground impatiently with one of his hoofs, as if to +show that he was tired of this duel with the eyes, and wanted to try +some more complete trial of strength. If Shasta had looked +particularly at the pawing hoof, he would have noticed how deeply +cleft it was, and what sharp cutting edges it had. A terrible +instrument that, when it descended like a sledge-hammer with all the +weight of the huge seven-hundred-pound body behind it to give it +driving force! But Shasta was too much occupied in attending to the +expression in the animal's eyes, and in fearful admiration of the +huge spreading antlers that made so grand an ornament to the mighty +head. + +And then, because the Spirit of the wild things did not tell him what +to do, or because, if it did, his attention was too much taken up to +give heed to its warning, he did the wrong thing instead of the right +one. With a sudden spring in the air, he loosed the wolf-cry from +his throat. + +If anything was needed to make the moose furious this action of +Shasta's was sufficient, At the boy's unexpected movement and cry he +bounded to one side. Then he stood snorting and stamping the ground +viciously. But he did not turn tail. Instead, he began to thrash +the underwood furiously with his antlers. + +Shasta was no coward. Yet what could he do, naked and utterly +defenceless against this enormous animal, armed with those dreadful +antlers and those pitiless hatchets on his feet? He looked quickly +round, measuring the distance between himself and the nearest tree. +To dart to it and climb into safety would be done in less time than +it would take to tell it. But quick though he was, he knew, by +experience, that some of the wild things were even quicker. What the +moose could do in the way of quickness he had just seen. The whole +of that great body was a mass of sinews and muscles that could hurl +it this way or that like a flash of lightning before you had time to +blink. And the moose, like the wolves and the bears, could make up +his mind in less than a thousandth part of a minute, and be somewhere +else almost before he had started, and finish a thing completely +almost before it was begun! + +If only Nitka or Shoomoo, or one of the wolf-brothers, could know the +danger he was in, and come to the rescue! Big though he might be, it +would be a bold moose who would lightly tackle Shoomoo, or any of his +terrible brood, when once their blood was roused. But though Shasta +looked wildly on every side, hoping that the call he had given might +have attracted attention, not a dead leaf rustled in response under +swiftly padding feet! + +He turned his gaze again upon his enemy--for enemy he had now +undoubtedly become--to catch the first sign of what he might be about +to do. The moose was still thrashing the thicket as if to lash +himself into increasing fury, and glaring at Shasta passionately out +of his shining eyes. Because he did not know what was best to be +done, Shasta threw back his head, and once again sent out the long +ringing wolf-cry that was a summons to the pack. But as luck would +have it, not one of all the wolf kindred was within ear-shot, and the +Bargloosh was as empty of wolves as the sky of clouds. + +At the second cry, the moose stopped thrashing the bushes, and stood +still. But along his neck and shoulders the coarse black hair rose +threateningly. A red light burned dangerously in his eyes. +Suddenly, without warning, he sprang. Quick as a wolf, Shasta leaped +aside. If he had been the fraction of a second later he would have +been trampled to death. The murderous hoof of the moose missed its +mark by a quarter of an inch. Snorting with rage, he raised himself +on his hind legs to strike again. + +And then the wonderful thing happened. Even as the moose rose, a +huge black form hurled itself through the air, descending upon him +like a thunderbolt. Before he could deliver the blow intended for +Shasta, even before he could change his position in order to protect +himself, a huge paw, armed with claws like curved daggers, had ripped +his shoulder half-way to the bone. + +So great was the force of the blow, with the whole weight of +Gomposh's body behind it, that the moose was hurled to the ground. +He had hardly touched it, however, before he was on his feet, +quivering with pain and fury. Seeing that his assailant was one of +the hated bears, his fury redoubled. In spite of his wounds, now +streaming with blood, he rushed savagely at the bear, striking again +with his hoofs. But Gomposh, though now old, was no novice at +boxing. He simply gathered his great hind quarters under him and sat +well back upon them, with his forepaws lifted. Each time the moose +struck, Gomposh parried the blow with a lightning sweep of his +gigantic paw; and each time the paw swept, the moose bled afresh. +Only once did he do Gomposh any injury, and that was when, with a +sudden charge of his left-hand antler, he caught the bear in the +ribs. But he paid dearly for the action. Gomposh, though nearly +losing his balance, brought his right paw down with such +sledge-hammer force on his opponent's shoulder, that the moose +staggered, and almost fell. The blow was so tremendous that the +great bull did not care to receive another. With a harsh bellow of +rage and anguish he turned, plunged into the underwood, and +disappeared. + +[Illustration: WITH A HARSH BELLOW OF RAGE AND ANGUISH HE PLUNGED +INTO THE UNDERWOOD] + +The whole forest seemed to quake as he went. + +While all this was happening, Shasta, crouched behind his tree, had +watched with intense excitement the progress of the fight. Now that +Gomposh had proved himself conqueror, and that the moose had +disappeared, he came out from his refuge. + +He wanted to thank Gomposh, to make him feel how glad he was that he +had beaten the moose. But for some reason peculiar to himself, +Gomposh evidently did not want to be thanked. And when Shasta went +up to lay his hand on his thick black coat, he rumbled something rude +in his chest and moved sulkily away. As he went he turned once to +look back at the boy, and then, like the moose, disappeared among the +trees. + +Left alone on the spot where the great battle had been fought, and +where he had come so near losing his life, Shasta looked about him +carefully. The ground was torn up and trampled, the grass and leaves +blotched with dark stains. A faint smell of newly-spilt blood filled +the air. And all round crowded the trees, dark, solemn, full of +unnamable things. + +As Shasta watched, a feeling of dread came over him. He could not +have explained the feeling. All he knew was that it was a bad place +where bad things could happen, and where even Gomposh had not cared +to remain. Without lingering another moment, he fled away on +noiseless naked feet. + +And down in the cedar swamp, among the skunk cabbage and the bad +black pools, old Gomposh sat in his lair and licked his wound. It +did not heal for several days; but the big slavery tongue kept busily +at work, and Nature, the old unfailing nurse, attended to her job. A +good deal of grumbling accompanied the licking, and acted like a +tongue on Gomposh's mind. So it was not long before he went about as +usual, and the nuthatches perceived that Gomposh was so very much +Gomposh again that the toadstools were being punished for having +grown so fat! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +SHASTA LEAVES HIS WOLF KIN + +The days and weeks went by. By the time the dark blue flower of the +camass had faded, and the yellow wild parsley had begun to look +tired, Shasta began to feel again the same strange restlessness +creeping over him which he had felt before. And whenever he turned +his face towards the southeast, the remembrance of the Indian village +would sit down thickly upon him, and he would stop to think. When he +remembered the raw-hide lariat and the husky dogs, he hated the camp; +but when he remembered with his nose-memory, the pleasant odour of +the burning cottonwood and of the dried sweet-grass came to him and +made a stirring in his heart. Moreover, the Indian smell was +there--the smell that does not come from cottonwood nor sweet-grass, +or parfleches filled with buffalo meat, but clings about even the +Indian names and is an odour of the old, forgotten times. + +And as he went along the trails, somehow or other everything was +different. The birds were there just the same. The blue jays were +full of jabbering talk. The crows followed each other from tree to +tree, always crying to those ahead to go farther on, and fasten their +food-bags to another bough. And the woodpecker hammered hollowly at +the hidden heart of the woods. As with the birds, so with the +beasts. Nitka and Shoomoo went and came on the hunting trails, and +the wolf-brothers howled in the night. Gomposh slapped the dead logs +for grubs, and was a silly old bear when nobody was watching. But +when he met any one he would sit down heavily at once and look +dreadfully wise. And the weasels went on their wicked ways, killing +and killing, not because of hunger, but the blood-lust to kill. And +the red squirrels and the grey squirrels ran along the tree-tops for +miles, without ever coming to ground; and the fussy little chipmunks +fussed. + +Yet in spite of all this, Shasta felt that something had changed, and +that nothing could ever be quite the same again. And although the +wolves brought him just as much meat as before, so that he never went +hungry, he kept longing for the taste of the buffalo tongue which the +Indian woman had thrown to him out of the smoking pot. The wolves +never brought him anything so good as that. It made his mouth water +whenever he thought of that delicious thing. + +So he wandered up and down, up and down, more and more restless, and +difficult to satisfy. It was not that he was unhappy. Sometimes, +even, he was wildly happy, running and leaping in the sun, or +swinging on a fir branch, and talking wolf-talk to himself. At such +times the sunlight and the sweet mountain air seemed to have got into +his blood, and the blue sky did not seem blue enough or the moss +green enough, or the Bargloosh big enough, to be equal to his joy. +It was the life that was in him which could not contain itself in his +body, and kept overflowing the high brim of his heart! + +Yet the creatures and their ways did not wholly satisfy him. That +was the mischief of it. There were other creatures and other ways. +He had seen those other creatures and he could not forget. He did +not know that they were his own people, and that the drawing which he +felt towards them was blood, and not cooked buffalo tongue. When his +thoughts ran that way, it was the remembrance of the _smell_ and the +_taste_ of the new life that was strongest. Even the memory of the +lariat and the huskies could not overcome that. And as Meeko, the +red squirrel, was always running along the green roof of the world, +chickering and making mischief, and egging folks on to fight, so +along the roof of Shasta's mind the new restlessness ran, and +chickered, and would not let him be. + +The morning came at last when he bowed his head and obeyed. He stood +a long time at the mouth of the cave, looking over the familiar world +of forest and mountain, and the distant shining peaks. Far away to +the south he saw a speck against the blue. It moved slowly as he +watched. Something told him that it was Kennebec, sitting in the +wind. Kennebec had been very quiet of late. Now that there were no +eaglets to feed, there was not so much need to go cub and lamb +snatching on the mountain slopes. Besides which, he avoided the +Bargloosh. It was there that the creature lived who had dared to +scale his rocks. Henceforth the Bargloosh became for Kennebec a +place of danger, and he gave it a wide berth. + +Now, as Shasta gazed over the wide spaces below him, and up at the +rocks above, he looked at them wistfully, as if he were saying +good-bye. He didn't know anything about good-bye really, because the +animals never consciously say farewell. They separate from each +other because their feet take them, but it is mercifully hidden from +them that sometimes they will not return. Something in him begged +him to stay: to remain where he was and not mix himself up with the +new, unexplained life that was busy among the foothills where there +were lariats and husky dogs, and where the creatures walked on their +hind legs. Here he knew the world and the ways of all its folk. +From the shadowy inside of the cave to the glare of the sunlight on +the shimmering peaks, he was familiar with it all; it was built about +his heart in a bigness that was home. But now, for some unexplained +and mysterious reason he was leaving it and going to this other +utterly different thing which had bound him and bitten him and had +given new smells to his nose and a new taste to his tongue. And he +knew perfectly well that neither Nitka nor Shoomoo, nor any of the +wolf-brothers would wish him to go; just as clearly as if they all +sat on their haunches in a row in front of him and implored him to +remain. They were all away now, and he was alone at the den's mouth. +But if they should come back before he started, he knew that he could +not keep the thing a secret from their sharp understandings. They +would lick him, and rub noses, and look at him out of their wild +wonderful eyes, and say, "_We_ know, Little Person!" and then the +thing would be impossible, and he would not be able to go. + +In a moment he had run swiftly down the slope and was lost among the +trees. + +The sun was setting when he reached the end of the canyon towards the +Indian camp. He did not go by way of the wolf-rocks this time. It +was there that Looking-All-Ways had seized him, and he did not want +to be caught like that again. So he had climbed down the steep sides +of the gorge which the Indians call Big Wolf Canyon, and crept out +among the high clumps of bunch-grass beside the stream. He could not +see the village from here. It was hidden by a swell of the ground; +but though he could not see it, he caught the sounds and the smells +of it as they drifted down-wind. Presently he plucked up his courage +and climbed to the top of the rising ground. Here the village was +full in view. Soft blue trails of smoke were rising from the tops of +the lodges, for the squaws were preparing the evening meal. The camp +looked very peaceful, and not at all a thing to fill you with dread. +Nevertheless, Shasta eyed it suspiciously, as a thing full of +unexpected dangers which yelped and had sharp teeth. + +Slowly he crept forward, crawling from tuft to tuft of grass, and +taking advantage of every bit of rising ground, so that he might +approach as close as possible without being seen. The things he was +particularly on his guard against were the huskies; but as luck would +have it there was not a single dog on this side of the camp, so that +he crept right up to the outer circle of lodges without any mishap. +It was not till he had reached the inner circle of lodges and was +crouching at the back of one of them that he was discovered. + +The one who made the discovery was no less a person than +Running-Laughing, the ten-year-old daughter of the chief. She was +carrying a buffalo bag to fetch water from the stream, and passed so +close behind the tepee that she almost trod on Shasta before she saw +him. She stood still in amazement, looking down at the strange thing +at her feet. Shasta gazed at her in equal astonishment, but also +with fear. By reason of his position on the ground Running-Laughing +looked taller to him than she really was. He marvelled at her +appearance, and the things she seemed to have stuck on to her skin. +It is true she only wore a soft-tanned buckskin dress, trimmed with +porcupine quills and deer-bones, and had small white shells in her +ears; but to Shasta's unaccustomed eyes it was a wonderful and very +dreadful gear. As for him, he was just as he was and was neatly +dressed in his own skin, which was a reddish-brown under the fine +hair. For some time they looked at each other without a sound or a +movement. Then Running-Laughing behaved like her name, and told her +father, Big Eagle, what she had found. + +Big Eagle was preparing for a religious service in the lodge of the +Yellow Buffalo. When he heard that the wolf-child was again in the +camp, he sent for Looking-All-Ways to tell him that his captive had +returned. + +Looking-All-Ways went at once with Running-Laughing to where Shasta +crouched beside the tepee. When he came there, he did not attempt to +touch Shasta, but he carried the raw-hide lariat with him in case of +need. He did something even wiser. He sent Running-Laughing to find +Shoshawnee, the medicine-man, and tell him to come. So +Running-Laughing fetched Shoshawnee, and when he came he began to +"make medicine" with his voice. + +Now, to "make medicine" with your voice is not an easy thing to do, +and is only to be done by those who know forest-lore, and +prairie-lore, and the secrets of the beasts. And Shoshawnee could do +this, because he was crammed full of lore, and his head was bulging +with buffalo wisdom and a knowledge of the beasts. As regards the +beasts, he did not, of course, know as much as Shasta did, but he +knew quite enough to make him wiser than the other Indians, and +directly he began to talk, Shasta _knew_ that he knew! + +It was a wonderful and strange "medicine" which Shoshawnee made; and +if you understood the Indian tongue you would have heard many +beautiful and far-away things. For in the Indian medicine-talk there +are many and many words which come a long way from the North and a +long way from the South, and very far indeed from the East and West. +From the North they fall, as the feathers drop from the wings of wild +geese, when they come honk-honking in the deep nights. From the +South they are of the buffalo where they wallow by the great lake +whose waters never rest. From the East they are of the coyotes, and +from the West of the wolves. And many other sounds there are, too, +and words which make you think of the wind along the scarped edges of +rocks, and of the rumble of avalanches as they fall thunderously, and +of the whisper of the junipers when the air creeps. All the great +wilderness seemed to give itself in echoes along Shoshawnee's tongue. + +As Shasta listened, a peculiar feeling came upon him. The sound of +Shoshawnee's speaking affected him as nothing had done before. It +seemed to rub him gently all over with a soothing touch. Deep within +him something answered to it, and was pleased. His fear and distrust +of the Indians melted away under the influence of the voice. The +look of the wild animal in his eyes began to soften into something +that was almost human. Shoshawnee saw the effect which the medicine +was producing, and went on. + +Gradually he began to move away from the tepee. As he did so, he +walked backwards, keeping his eyes always fixed upon Shasta, and +holding him with his gaze. Shasta looked straight into Shoshawnee's +eyes. The eyes were like the voice. They drew him, whether he +wanted them to or no. Slowly, step by step, he left the tepee and +began to follow the medicine-man in his slow backward walk. Where he +was going and why he was doing this he had no idea. Only the voice +called him, and the eyes drew. He must follow those eyes and that +voice wherever they chose to go. + +By degrees Shoshawnee moved into the centre of the camp, Shasta +following him a few feet away. Not many paces off, the lodge of the +Yellow Buffalo was pitched. Inside sat Big Eagle and his braves, +collected for the sacred ceremony. The ceremony had not yet begun, +because they were waiting for the medicine-man to sing the opening +words, without which the "medicine" of the buffaloes would not be +complete. + +At last Shoshawnee entered the lodge, still walking backwards. In a +moment or two Shasta followed. He saw the braves sitting on the +ground with Big Eagle in the centre. For the moment they were not +saying or doing anything. There seemed to be a great number, for the +tepee was full. Just in front of Big Eagle there burnt a small fire. +After Shoshawnee and Shasta had entered and Shoshawnee had sat down, +Big Eagle took an ember from the fire with a forked stick. He then +put some dried sweet-grass on it, to burn. Soon the smoke of the +burning grass filled the lodge with a pleasant smell. Shasta sniffed +this new smell up his nose with delight. He watched the grey threads +of smoke with wonder. He thought they must be the wings of the ember +which it waved in the air. Presently Big Eagle put his hands in the +smoke and rubbed them over his body. Shasta looked on in +astonishment. To him, hands were forepaws. He had never seen +fore-paws do so much, or do it in so odd a way. + +When Big Eagle had rubbed himself all over with sweet smoke, he took +another ember and with it lit a large pipe. The pipe was of polished +stone, and red in colour. + +Then Shasta saw what to him was the most surprising thing of all. +When Big Eagle had put the red thing to his mouth, a wing came out +and waved itself in the air! The pipe went from mouth to mouth, as +the braves passed it round the lodge, and from every mouth, as it +went, grey wings sprouted, and went wandering through the air. + +After the smoking was over, the ceremony began. Shasta heard +Shoshawnee make many strange noises, and let his voice run up and +down as if he wanted to howl. It made Shasta want to howl also, but +he remembered that he was not among the wolves now, and so he kept +the feeling down. + +When Shoshawnee had finished, the other braves went on. They seemed +to want to howl badly too! Shasta could not understand how they +could make so many odd noises in their throats, and yet never throw +their heads back for the long sobbing note. On each side of Big +Eagle were the squaws Lillooeet and Sarvis, his two wives. They had +rattles in their hands, and they beat them on a buffalo hide +stretched upon the floor. The beating was in time to the chanting, +and Shasta watched in wonderment the rise and fall of the rattles, +which, every time they touched the hide, gave out a sharp noise. + +Presently, at a signal from Big Eagle, the rattling ceased. +Shoshawnee rose. He advanced three paces towards Shasta. Then he +stretched out his hand and laid it on his head. When Shasta felt the +hand of Shoshawnee upon his head the tingling feeling ran in his +blood and made his flesh creep. Then Shoshawnee spoke. What he said +Shasta could not understand, yet it seemed to him that, as he had +once been admitted to the wolf-pack as of its blood, now he was being +received into the Indian pack as one of themselves. And he was right +in his guess, for this is what Shoshawnee said: + +"This is Shasta, the wolf-child. I have tamed him, because I +understand the wolf-medicine. But he _is_ the wolf-medicine! +Because of that, he is stronger than I." + +There was a pause here, while the whole company gathered together in +the tepee gazed at Shasta with awe. Presently Shoshawnee went on: + +"Many moons ago, the Assiniboines, as you know, attacked us when we +were moving to the Sakuska river to pitch our summer camp. A squaw +was killed, and her papoose carried off. The brave who did this was +not an Assiniboine. He was Red Fox, who stole the Eagle medicine, +and is a traitor to our tribe. Red Fox went to the Assiniboines with +lies upon his tongue. But the papoose which Red Fox carried off was +the grandson of Fighting Bull, our old chief, who died soon +afterwards. And his name was Shasta, which is one of our oldest +names. Nothing was afterwards seen of the papoose in the lodges of +the Assiniboines. Why? I will tell you. Because its father had +been his deadly enemy, Red Fox gave it to the wolves!" + +Shoshawnee suddenly ceased speaking; but his eyes glowed, and the +echo of his voice seemed to run in the ears of the braves, as if his +thought, which was fierce and strong, made itself a voice out of the +silence. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +HOW SHASTA FOUGHT MUSHA-WUNK + +So that was how it came to pass that Shasta was received by the +Indians into their tribe, and was called by his own name, which he +had never known. The moons went by, and by degrees he left off his +wolf-ways and took on Indian ways instead. He learnt to walk +upright, to eat cooked food and to talk the Indian tongue. To learn +the last took him a long time. At first he could only make wolf +noises, and would growl when he was angry, bark when he was excited, +and howl when it was necessary to say things to the moon. But he had +Shoshawnee for teacher, and Shoshawnee's patience had no end. At +first he was shy of the Indian hoys, because they teased him when +they had opportunity, and their elders' backs were turned; but by +degrees his shyness wore away, and he began to take part in their +racing and riding. Soon he could ride and run races with the best of +them. Also, when it came to wrestling, they soon found that he was +more than their match; for his life among the wolves had given an +extraordinary strength to his muscles and suppleness to his body. + +It was in a fight with Musha-Wunk that this quality of Shasta's body +first made itself known. Musha-Wunk was a bully, and one of the +leaders of those who enjoyed teasing Shasta whenever they had a +chance. So one day Musha-Wunk and his companions came upon Shasta +when he was sitting by himself amongst the bunch-grass of the creek. + +At first, when Musha-Wunk began to tease and probe him with a stick, +Shasta pretended not to mind, and got up and walked away. + +Even when Musha-Wunk followed and stabbed him again, he took it all +in good part, and caught hold of the stick with a laugh. But +Musha-Wunk snatched the stick away with a vicious pull and struck +Shasta with it across the face. + +What followed came so quickly that those who watched held their +breath in astonishment. The leap of a wolf is so swift that it must +be seen to be believed. When Shasta leaped on the bully, the other +boys saw something that seemed to hurl itself through the air, strike +savagely, and bound away. Musha-Wunk, taken utterly by surprise, +went down under the blow. He was on his feet in an instant, but +almost before he was up, Shasta had hurled himself on him again. +This time Musha-Wunk seized him before he could leap away, and both +boys rolled over together. Musha-Wunk was the heavier of the two. +He had bigger bones and a more powerful body. If he could have held +Shasta down, he would certainly have had the best of it. But to hold +Shasta down was like sitting on a small volcano. There was a violent +eruption of arms and legs, and Musha-Wunk was lifted into the air! +While he was still struggling to his feet, Shasta was on him again. + +It was the wolf in Shasta which urged him to these lightning attacks +and counter-attacks which made the eyes blink. Once the wild-beast +spirit in him was fully roused, nothing could stand against it. The +wolf-blood raced in his veins; the wolf-light flashed in his eyes. +There broke out of his throat fierce sounds which certainly were not +human. As he fought, he seemed to himself to be a wolf again, with +the uncontrollable wolf-fury raging in his heart. Yet it was not +merely wild rage that was in him. At the back of his mind, he knew +that he was fighting for his freedom, for his self-respect. Once he +allowed himself to be beaten by Musha-Wunk, he knew that the other +boys would have no mercy upon him. + +The time for gentleness and forbearance was gone by. The fight was +none of his making. Musha-Wunk had forced it upon him, because he +was a bully, and because he had judged Shasta to be a coward. The +other boys stood round in a silent ring, watching the fight with +glittering eyes. Their very silence showed how deeply they were +moved; though, Indian-like, they gave no vent to their feeling by any +outward sign. They were like a circle of animals, watching, with a +fierce animal joy, a combat waged to the death. And presently a +terror, as of death itself, came to Musha-Wunk, the bully, as he +fought. He had thought that to conquer Shasta would be a very easy +thing. He wanted to give him a good thrashing, see the blood flow, +and leave the wolf-boy half dead at the finish. But now he knew, +when too late, that he had roused something which it was not in his +power to subdue. By his own folly and cruelty, he had drawn upon +himself a vengeance which was not of men, but of the wolves. He +ceased to take the offensive. All he wanted now was to defend +himself as best he could against Shasta's lightning attacks. It was +when he tried to hold Shasta that the marvellous elasticity of the +wolf-boy's body showed itself. No matter how Musha-Wunk bent it this +way and that, straining every muscle till the veins stood out on his +throat, Shasta's firm flesh and wonderful sinews resisted every +effort to break him into submission. He twirled himself into the +most astonishing positions, upsetting Musha-Wunk every time the bully +seemed for a moment to have gained the upper hand. + +The fight finished as suddenly as it had begun. Musha-Wunk had +received so severe a punishing that at last he could bear it no +longer. It was not his body alone that suffered. In his mind the +terror was growing. It was a horrible feeling that what he fought +was a boy outwardly only, and was in reality more than half a wolf! +The sudden leap, the break away, the deadly leap again--this was how +the wolves fought. It was not to be met in any familiar human way. +Taking advantage of a moment when Shasta seemed to pause, Musha-Wunk +turned and fled towards the camp. + +The other Indian boys looked on in astonishment at this ending to the +fight. They would hardly believe their eyes that the big and +masterful Musha-Wunk should be defeated so utterly by the little +wolf-boy that at last he should flee in terror. They gazed at +Shasta, the victor, in awe, keeping a respectful distance for fear +lest the wolf in him might turn suddenly upon them. It did not need +Shasta's quick eyes to perceive this fear upon them; his mind caught +it as it oozed, in spite of themselves, into the air. Swift, as +always, to act when his mind had once clearly seen a thing, he made a +quick step forward, crouching as if to spring. To the alarmed Indian +boys it seemed as if his whole body quivered with rage. In its +crouching position it seemed to take on itself mysteriously the +actual outlines of a wolf. Certainly the eyes between the long and +shaggy locks of hair shot out a light that was not human, but of that +deep brute world, old and savage, in the thick lair of the trees. + +It was enough. Without waiting an instant longer, the whole band +broke asunder and took to their heels in flight. + +Shasta watched their departure with a joyful triumph. Now at last he +had proved that the wolf-spirit in him was not to be broken, and that +those who provoked or insulted it did so at their own peril. It was +the upright, free spirit of the wild. And as such it was a good +spirit, and belonged to the early freshness of the world. In Shasta, +it would not attack or injure things as long as they left him alone. +But once his freedom or peace were threatened, then he would resist +with all the strength in his power. + +When the last flying form had disappeared behind the rising ground, +Shasta turned towards the trees. The excitement that was in him +danced and bubbled in his blood. He was tired and sore in his body, +but his heart was high--high as the tops of the spruces and the +pines. He felt that he must go and tell his heart to the trees. + +He went far into the forest, and then sat down. The trees were all +about him--close on every side. It was as if they were crowding up +to him to hear what he had to say. The big silence of them did not +make him lonely or afraid. They were solemn and yet companionable, +and full of wise "medicine"--which he understood, but could not put +into speech. + +The Indian camp was very far away now. Musha-Wunk and the others +were little things that did not matter. It was the trees that +mattered now--the trees and the wolves. + +Only his fine ear could have detected that soft footfall coming down +the trail! And when he turned his eyes, it did not surprise him that +he looked straight into those of a big grey wolf. + +What Shasta said to the wolf and what the wolf said to Shasta cannot +be set down in words. Though it was neither Nitka nor Shoomoo, it +was a wolf-brother of three seasons back, and the two recognized each +other in some mysterious way. And so Shasta was able to learn all he +wanted to know about the den upon the Bargloosh, and how his +foster-parents fared. It was over nine months now since he had seen +them, but, according to the wolf-brother, nothing was amiss. Upon +the Bargloosh everything went much as it had gone in the old days +when Shasta was a little naked man-cub, and had no notion of wearing +clothes. The wolf-brother did not approve of the clothing Shasta +wore, though it was only a little tanned buckskin tunic falling to +the knee. For that was one of Shasta's peculiarities, that though he +suffered the upper part of his body to be clad, he would not allow +them to interfere with the freedom of his legs. Moccasins he would +only wear in winter, when the frost bit hard, or in the summer when +he had a fit upon him to decorate his feet. Running-Laughing had +made him the summer moccasins, and had embroidered them most +cunningly with elk-teeth and porcupine quills. Shasta walked +stiffly, with a sense of grandeur, when he wore the summer moccasins, +looking down at his feet as if they belonged to some great +medicine-man or important chief. + +The wolf-brother sniffed at the tunic disapprovingly. The Indian +smell of it upset him, and made his hackles rise. So Shasta, to +please him, took it off, and let him see that it was only a loose +skin that did not matter, and could easily be thrown away. After +that things went more smoothly, and they talked companionably +together in the shadow of the trees. And when the evening light +began to be golden about the tops of the spruces, and the forest to +stir, and shake off the drowsy weight of the afternoon, the +wolf-brother departed as suddenly and softly as he had come, and +Shasta, having watched him go regretfully, turned homewards to the +camp. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE DANGER FROM THE SOUTH + +It was the old medicine-man, Shoshawnee, and he was making medicine +to himself on the high lookout butte that commanded the prairies to +the south. The sunset was beginning to be crimson in the west. It +struck full in Shoshawnee's face, turning it blood-red. But +Shoshawnee had no thought for the colour of his face. He had another +thought inside him--a thought of such tremendous importance that +there was no room for anything besides. And this was that a danger +lay there ambushed in the south. No one else but Shoshawnee knew of +the danger; but that was because he had a medicine which never told +him lies, and which whispered things to him before they had arrived. +And already it had whispered to him that danger was near, and he had +heard the huskies give the ghost-bark when they saw the wind go by. + +When he had finished the medicine-song he sat silent, gazing on the +prairies. They looked very peaceful, lying abroad there under the +sinking sun. Shoshawnee's eyes, travelling over the immense levels, +saw nothing that served to increase the unquiet of his mind. Far to +the south there stretched, from the Saska River westwards, a dusky +band that was like a shadow cast by the sunset. Shoshawnee knew that +it was a herd of buffalo--one of those vast herds which in those old +Indian days roamed over the wilderness for a thousand miles; coming +always from the lake of mystery in the south; going no man knew +whither; which no man had ever counted, or would count till the +Palefaces came from the East, and the Red man's day was done. +Shoshawnee watched the buffaloes keenly. So long as they continued +their tranquil feeding, he knew that, whatever danger was afoot, it +had not yet approached the outskirts of the herd. For the buffalo +are very wary and are always ready to stampede. Yet, although his +eyes were fixed intently out there so many miles away, his ears were +alert for anything that might happen close about. So, although he +did not turn his head, he heard the faint whisper of the dried +bent-grass as Shasta in his summer moccasins came lightly up the hill. + +When he reached Shoshawnee, Shasta did not speak. It is the +Palefaces who rush at each other with their tongues. The Red man is +never in a hurry with his speech. Why should you hasten your words +when the prairies are so broad beside you, and there are no clocks to +tick off for you the timeless drift of the summer air? It is only in +the cities that men have learnt to waste the hours by counting them; +and on the high buttes facing the sunset there is no time. + +So the sun had dipped below the prairie before at last Shoshawnee +spoke. + +"The buffalo go west," he said slowly, as if the thing was of the +utmost importance. + +Shasta did not put a question actually into words, but he looked it. +Shoshawnee understood. + +"There is much pasture to the west. The buffalo eat the prairie to +the setting sun." + +"Do they eat the edge of the sunset also?" Shasta asked. + +Shoshawnee shook his head. + +"The edge of the sunset is the end of the world," he said. "At the +end of all things there is no more grass." + +Shasta was silent at that. It was so unbelievable. The thought +stunned him. No more grass! + +"But _beyond_ the sunset," Shoshawnee went on, "when you come to the +Happy Hunting-grounds, the grass is always green. And there the blue +flower of the camass never fades, and the sarvis berries never decay." + +"The Happy Hunting-grounds!" Shasta murmured in his low, husky voice. +"Where?" + +Shoshawnee lifted his hand. + +"Up there, presently," he said, "you will see the Wolf-trail. It is +along the Wolf-trail that you travel to reach them. The Wolf-trail +is worn across the heavens by the moccasins of the dead." + +"Is the hunting better there than it is here?" Shasta asked. "Is +there more game?" + +"It is not _better_ hunting," Shoshawnee said, correcting him. "It +is happier. The dead are full of happiness as they follow along the +trail." + +After that there was a long silence, as Shasta kept looking at the +sky to watch for the beginning of the Wolf-trail, when the stars +should appear. But before that happened Shoshawnee spoke again. +This time he spoke quickly, using many words. He spoke so rapidly, +and the words followed each other so fast, that at first Shasta could +not understand. All he gathered was that danger was in the air, some +great danger which as yet you could not see, but which was +approaching, always drawing steadily nearer out there on the +prairies, and which might arrive before you knew. Then, as +Shoshawnee went on, the danger took a shape. It was the shape of +Indians on the warpath--Assiniboines that came with deadly cunning +and purpose, travelling like wolves along the prairie hollows. + +Shasta sent his eyes far across the darkening plains, where all +things were becoming shadowy and remote, and where even the great +herd of buffalo beyond the Saska was no longer visible. How far away +the Assiniboines might be he could not guess. Nor could Shoshawnee +tell him, when he asked. All Shoshawnee knew was that they were +coming, and that when he had finished his medicine-making he would go +and warn the tribe. Of one thing only was he certain, and that was, +that however near they might be they would not attack at night. The +Assiniboines were fierce and cruel but they dreaded the darkness, +because they declared that the ghosts of their enemies and many evil +spirits were abroad. Their favourite hour of attack was just at +daybreak when the first glimmer of dawn was mingling with the mist. + +When the last light of sunset had faded from the sky, and the +prairies were wholly dark, Shasta and Shoshawnee returned to the camp. + +Shasta lay awake long that night, listening and wondering. The words +of the old medicine-man kept walking in his head. Sometimes it was +of the buffaloes he thought, with their pasture that lay out into the +sunset and was a-shimmer with the long lights of the west; and +sometimes of that mysterious danger that crept nearer and nearer, and +gave no sign of its approach. And then the butterfly, the +sleep-bringer, flitted across his eyelids and he slept. + +It was the western lark-sparrow that woke him in the morning, singing +loud and clear upon the lodge-pole over his head. And when he saw +the sunlight clear through the painted wall of the tepee, and heard +the cheerful morning stir of the camp, it seemed impossible that +danger should be afoot in that tremendous peace. Yet, as the day +wore on and evening drew near, he felt the same foreboding at his +heart as when Shoshawnee had spoken to him of danger when they sat on +the lookout bluff. + +As for Shoshawnee, he sat there all day, without food or drink, +gazing steadily across the prairies and chanting the old medicine +chants of the tribe. When evening fell Shoshawnee returned. He had +already warned the tribe of what he feared, and Big Eagle had given +orders that all was to be in readiness in case of an attack. Scouts +had been sent out, but had returned at sundown, saying that no signs +of hostile Indians had been seen. + +When Shasta went to bed that night the buffalo robe held no sleep for +him; and wherever the butterfly flitted, it did not enter his tepee. +All night long he lay awake, restless and uneasy. Often and often he +left his couch and looked out. The camp was very still and the stars +in their high places glittered bright in a cloudless sky. Now and +then the small grey owl hooted dismally from the alder thickets +beside the creek, or a coyote would bark fitfully somewhere far off +in the night. Shasta had not yet grown used to the prairie. It was +so vast, so unenclosed! The forest with its crowding trees, and the +immense gloom of a hundred miles of shade, was the thing that made +him feel at home. But now the camp of his people was pitched far out +on the prairie, and the forest only existed in his dreams. As for +Nitka and Shoomoo and the wolf-brothers, they seemed even farther +off, and to move in some old life lost among the trees. Three times +already since his first coming to the camp, it had been moved. The +ends of the new lodge-poles, cut in spring among the foot-hills and +dragged by the ponies for enormous distances, now showed signs of +wear. The camp at present lay in a wide hollow surrounded by +swelling ridges, and hidden from sight until you were close upon it. +The lookout bluff upon which Shoshawnee had kept his watch lay a good +half-mile to the south, and commanded an immense sweep of prairie on +every hand. + +The last time Shasta had crept out of the tepee he had looked towards +the bluff. It humped itself, a black mass against the stars, like a +huge bull-buffalo couched in sleep. When he crept noiselessly back, +it seemed to follow him, and when at last sleep overtook him, it was +humped among his dreams. + +Suddenly he was wide awake, his heart throbbing. Something--he did +not know what--had called to him, and roused him from his rest. The +tepee was still dark, but a faint glimmer--so faint as to be scarcely +seen--showed that daybreak was at hand. Shasta sat up, his eyes +straining in the dimness, and his ears listening as only wild animals +listen when they are startled. + +For a little while he heard nothing but the stillness, which itself +was so deep that it seemed as if it were a sort of sound. Then, +clear and strikingly distinct, he heard repeated the sound which had +broken his sleep. + +It was a wolf-howl, long-drawn and wailing, and it was answered +directly afterwards by another, and yet another. The cries were some +distance off--how far Shasta could not tell. The third came from +some spot on the prairie beyond the lookout bluff. + +Every pulse in Shasta's body beat in answer to the cries. A wild +excitement swept through him. His mind seemed, for the moment, to +throw off its Indian teaching and swing back into the wild. Yet, +wolf-like though the cries were--so alike that only the wolves +themselves would have detected the difference--Shasta's perfect sense +of hearing told him that these wailing notes came from no +wolf-throats, but from those of Indians who imitated with marvellous +closeness the familiar cry. Shoshawnee was right. The danger was at +hand. It was within speaking distance: it sang a death-note in the +dawn. + +Shasta lost no time. He ran swiftly to Big Eagle's tepee. Without +waiting for any ceremony, he snatched aside the flap and stepped +inside. Rousing the chief he told him what he had heard. +Immediately Big Eagle sprang from his buffalo robes, and, seizing his +arms, rushed out into the centre of the camp, uttering the gathering +cry. Instantly the whole camp was aroused. The braves came running +out of the tepees, their bows in their hands and their long quivers +slung over their backs. In less than five minutes the sleeping +village was turned into an armed camp, with every man it contained +prepared for the fight. In the midst of the excitement Shasta +disappeared. When Big Eagle commanded the presence of the "medicine" +wolf-boy, no one could say what had become of him. Some were +inclined to think that he had played a trick upon them, and that +there was no danger at all. But Shoshawnee, the old medicine-man, +waved his arms excitedly, and declared over and over again that +Shasta had been warned by the spirits, and that the Assiniboines were +now close at hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +SHASTA GOES SCOUTING + +When Shasta had given the warning and knew that the tribe was fully +roused, he crept out of camp. He went so secretly that no one saw +him go. Why he went he could hardly have told himself in the shape +of a thought. If the cries had not been wolf-cries, it is probable +he would not have gone. He was certain that they were not the +genuine wolf-calls, yet they came so very close to them that an +uneasy feeling inside him made him want to find out what sort of +throat could make so exact an imitation. + +The direction of his going was towards the lookout butte, from beyond +which the last cry had come. If danger was gathering in the prairie +hollows it would be from the summit of the butte that you could tell +the nature of it, and whether it was widespread or closely drawn. As +he approached the butte, his eyes and ears were open at their widest. +Things were indistinct and shadowy in the faint glimmer of the dawn. +Yet shadowy though they were, Shasta's piercing eyes stabbed them +through and through. Every bush, every clump of grass, every rise or +fall of the ground--nothing escaped this piercing gaze. He saw the +buck-rabbit leap into the thicket. He saw the coyote drift, like a +trail of grey smoke, over the ridge. And while his eyes and cars +were busy, he did not forget his nose. With the true wolf-instinct +he travelled up-wind. Whatever scents were abroad in the keen air, +he would catch them surely, and sift them in his cunning nose. In +the early freshness of the dawn, the smell of the ground was sweet +with dew. There was not so much a breeze as a soft moving of the +air. Along it the whole vast body of the prairie seemed to breathe +to the tip of Shasta's nose. By this time the broad sweet prairie +smell was familiar to him. By contrast with it the old smells of the +forest seemed to be sharp and thin, like arrow-heads piercing the +brain. But, as Shasta knew, this broader prairie smell was made up +of a countless multitude of tiny odours that mixed themselves so +confusedly that only the stronger ones could be disentangled from the +rest. + +For some time he did not get any smell which told him of danger, and +he had reached the foot of the butte before he met anything +suspicious. Suddenly he stopped. As far as you could see or hear, +except that the light was a little stronger, everything was exactly +as it had been. And yet, to Shasta's quick sense, something had +happened, and he knew that he was warned. It was not that he saw or +heard anything first. It was his nose which had caught something +that was not a prairie smell. It was not of a thing that was there +now. The thing had gone by, but the scent of its passing clung still +to the grass-blades, and Shasta seemed to see the Indian body which +had left that faint message of itself in smell. Then he found the +trail--the dim thing that only wild eyes would see as it lay in the +morning twilight. + +At first he wondered what to do, whether to follow the track or to go +up the butte. He knew that whatever he did must be done at once, or +he might be too late. He went swiftly up the butte. + +When he reached the top he lay at full length, gazing intently over +the prairies. In the pale light of the creeping dawn, they looked +wider than ever. They seemed to stretch away and away endlessly, as +if the world did not cease at the horizon, but stooped down under the +sky. Shasta's eyes swept that huge greyness with a lightning glance. +The hollows lay roughly from northeast to southwest. It was only +here and there that it was possible to see their bottoms or what +might be concealed along the borders of the streams. + +For some minutes Shasta saw nothing suspicious. Then, about two +hundred yards to the west, he saw a creeping shape move across the +top of a ridge and disappear. It was followed by another and then +another. They slid very quickly over the open summit of the ridge. +At the very first glance he knew they were not wolves. + +He watched a great number pass over in that peculiar sliding way. +When there was a pause, and no more seemed to be coming, Shasta +turned to leave the butte. What he saw as he did so made his heart +leap. + +There, not twenty yards away from the foot of the butte, stood an +Indian, with his bow in his hand, ready to shoot. + +At once Shasta realized that it was a stranger, one of the hostile +tribe about to attack the camp. While his mind worked swiftly, +deciding what to do, his body never moved a muscle. There he was, +crouched upon the butte, as motionless as if he had been suddenly +turned to stone. + +If he attempted to escape the Indian by running east or west, he knew +by the way the brave held his bow that a terrible winged shaft would +come singing through the air. The Indians had evidently seen him on +the butte, and one of them had been told off to watch that he did not +return to camp to carry a warning before the attack was made. By +creeping to the top of the butte in order to reconnoitre the outer +prairies, Shasta saw that he had exposed himself to a hidden danger +behind. He saw himself cut off from the camp, utterly alone. He had +already given warning, it is true. But his people might not know +that the enemy were so close upon them, nor how many were gathering +for the attack. And whatever happened, he would be utterly powerless +to help them in the fight with their relentless foes. A feeling of +desperation, of anger, swept over him. It was like the anger which +had wrapped its flames about him when he had turned on Musha-Wunk, +the bully. + +Suddenly, in a flash, he turned and darted over the brow of the hill. +Instantly the Indian shot, but Shasta had been too quick for him, and +the arrow buried itself in the hillside. Shasta was hidden now by +the hill, and the Indian could not tell which way he had gone. The +boy went down the hill at a tremendous pace in a series of flying +bounds. When he reached the bottom he turned sharp to the left. +There was broken ground here, and a number of thickets. Threading +his way cautiously through these, Shasta worked eastwards, meaning to +approach the camp from the far northeastern side. He had not gone +very far when he heard a series of war-whoops, followed by savage +yells, and he knew that the battle had begun. He regretted now that +he had not brought his bow and arrows with him. His only weapon was +the flint tomahawk in his belt. + +There was much more light now. He could see everything clearly. But +the camp was not in sight, because it was hidden in its hollow to the +west. The sounds of the fight came to him plainly in the clear +morning air. + +There was a knoll in front of him. He ran towards it, stooping low +as in his wolf days. He had only just reached it, and had thrown +himself flat on his stomach, when all at once he heard the running of +many feet. The sound was coming in his direction. He lay where he +was, absolutely still. All at once he was surrounded by Indians. +Something struck him sharply at the back of his head, and he +remembered nothing more. + +When he came to himself, he found himself lying across the back of an +Indian pony, with a horrible aching in his head. The pony was at the +gallop. He felt that he was held in his place by the rider. He +could not see the rider. He saw nothing but a blur of grass that +seemed as if it billowed under him in flowing waves. The blood in +his head made a singing like grasshoppers. There was a tightness +there as if it were going to burst. He tried to think, but thoughts +would not come. He could not tell why he was on the pony's back. +Only the sharp smell of its sweating flanks entered his brain as one +smells things in a dream. Then the seas of grass billowed away into +nothingness, and it was a blackness where lightnings flashed. + +That was all he remembered of that long ride over the prairies, as he +was carried by the Assiniboines back to their hunting grounds in the +far northwest. It was not till many moons afterwards that he learnt +that, owing to his warning, their attack had only partially +succeeded, and that his tribe had beaten them off after a fierce +encounter in which both sides had lost heavily. + +When the Assiniboines reached their camp, Shasta was thrown into a +tepee and left to come to himself as best he might. It was not long +before he was forced to realize what had happened, and knew that he +was a prisoner in the hands of the enemies of his tribe. What he did +not know was that they had carried him off to kill him at their great +sun-dance as a religious offering. Quite unknown to himself, his +fame as a medicine-man had travelled far and wide over the prairies, +and had even reached the mountains in the west. This was the +wolf-medicine which had made his tribe so powerful since his coming +to them. Once he could be killed, the medicine power would be +destroyed also, but, as their own medicine-men assured them, it could +be destroyed only by fire. + +The weeks went by. He was allowed out of the tepee by day, but bound +with thongs every night, so that he could not move. He was given +much food in order to make him fat and pleasant for the ceremony. + +As the time of the great dance grew near, the Indians redoubled their +watch upon him. He was not even allowed to come out of the tepee +during the day. The heat and the lack of exercise made him suffer in +body and in mind. All he knew of the outside world came to him +through the hides of the tepee. He would lie awake in the night, +listening to the sounds that stirred abroad, and longing unspeakably +to be out in the cool air under the star-glimmer and the sky. And +then the moon would rise and the interior of the tepee would appear +in a silver gloom. + +It was at the moon-rising that Shasta's restlessness increased till +it was like a flame that licked along his bones. His brain was on +fire. All the pulses of his body beat in the burning of the flames. +Then he would crouch, staring with bloodshot eyes that seemed as if +they burnt holes in the tepee and pierced into the night. Now and +then he would moan a little, or make low wolf-noises in his dry +throat, but for the most part he was silent, suffering dumbly, as +animals suffer, feeling the old free wolf-life tugging at his heart. +Then there would come a moment when it was impossible to bear the +torture in silence, and he would throw back his head and vent his +misery in howl after howl. + +It was small wonder if the Indians beat him for that. Those dismal +notes, ringing out in the deep silence of the night, were enough to +make the toughest "brave" uneasy in his heart. So each night that +Shasta howled, he was beaten; and still the feeling was too strong to +be overcome, and he was beaten again. Then, when it was over, and he +lay panting and bruised, he would fall upon his thongs in a blind +rage, striving to tear them with his teeth. But his teeth were not +the fangs of Nitka, and the raw-hide thongs resisted his utmost +efforts. So when dawn broke he would lie exhausted, and fall into an +aching sort of slumber till they came to unbind him for the day. + +Once or twice during these nightly howlings he fancied he heard an +answering cry far off among the bills; and once there had been a +scratching outside the tepee, and he was certain that a wolf was +there. But before he could come to conversation with it an Indian +had arrived to beat him, and it had slipped away. + +At last the night came before the great dance that was to take place +next morning at the rising of the sun. It was in the beginning of +the dance that a great fire would be lighted, and that Shasta would +be burned, bound fast to a stake driven into the ground. No one told +him that this was his last night, and that it was on the morrow that +he would be killed. Yet for all that, some instinct warned him that +some terrible thing was afoot, and that the end was close at hand. + +It was in vain that he had waited all these weeks for his tribe to +follow and rescue him. Either they had been too severely punished by +the Assiniboines to dare to follow till they had increased their +strength, or else they had delayed too long and now had lost the +trail. So long he had looked for that rescue from the southeast; and +the sun had risen and set and the moon had waxed and waned, and waxed +again, and still there had sounded through the foot-hills no thunder +of ponies' hoofs, nor ringing war-cry as the avenging braves swept on. + +The night was very still. Moon-rise was at hand. For two nights in +succession something had stolen to the outside of Shasta's tepee. It +had stayed only a short time, sniffing and scratching, and then had +melted into the shadowy masses of the hills. Shasta had spoken to +it. He had said very little, but then, being wolf-taught, he knew +just what to say. And so the mysterious visitor had departed wiser +than it came. No one saw this creature, either when it entered the +camp or departed. Even the husky dogs did not detect it in their +sleep. On softly-cushioned feet it glided noiselessly straight to +the spot it sought; and when it had paid its visit, it seemed to +float along the ground mountainwards like a trail of black mist. + +And now, in a terrible suspense, Shasta was waiting, wondering if the +thing would come on this, the last night, and whether its coming +would bring a message of hope. + +Suddenly his eyes shone and a thrill passed through him. Outside, +close against the bottom of the tepee, he heard a sniff. It was the +sound a wolf makes when it takes the air deeply into its lungs and +then sends it out quickly. Shasta began to talk wolf-talk close to +the edge of the tepee. The creature outside answered. Then in a few +moments, it melted into the night. When it was gone, Shasta felt +more utterly alone than before. He was restless, excited, nervous to +a high degree. It was little wonder if he gave voice to the pent-up +wretchedness within him in howl after piercing howl. They let him +howl that night without beating him, because they thought it was the +last time the "medicine"-boy would lift his wolf-voice to the moon, +and it was his death-song that he sang. + + +Shasta did not howl for long at a time. He contented himself by +howling at intervals, that were longer or shorter, as his feelings +mastered him. But presently his reason for howling changed. + +Down the long throats of the canyons between the hills there came, +now in solo, now in concert, a series of calls that set Shasta's +blood ablaze. He answered the calls time after time. He knew every +variation of them, from the deep-throated note that was almost a +bellow, to the thin sharp call of the half-grown cub yearning for a +kill. And as Shasta sent out his desperate messages in reply, he +used every note of the wolf-language that he knew. Up and down the +hills, wailing along the ridges, sobbing in the hollows, went the +wild cries for help, and the answering cries that help was at hand. + +At daybreak the howling ceased. Over all the wilderness stole the +grey silence--the silence of the dawn. Shasta, lying bound in his +tepee, watched the cold light as it slowly grew. All at once, +directly above his head, a clear song trilled forth. It was a +lark-sparrow perched upon the top of a lodge-pole, and welcoming the +day. Often and often he had listened to that song before and loved +it for its gladsome sound. But then he had been safe among his own +people, and free to go in and out as he chose. Now the song brought +home to him afresh the sense of his loneliness and utter +helplessness, bound by the cruel thongs. + +The song ceased as suddenly as it had begun, and almost immediately +afterwards the tepee was entered by two Indians. Without unbinding +Shasta, they lifted him up and carried him outside. There he found +an old white war-horse attached to a travois, or Indian carriage. +Shasta had seen a travois before, but had never ridden in one. It +was a sort of seat, or basket, fastened to poles, the thin ends of +which crossed in front of the horse, while the thick ends trailed +along the ground. The Indians placed him on the travois and then +stood beside him, waiting for the signal to start. On all sides +Shasta saw that the camp was in movement. All the braves were in +their war paint, and wore their big war bonnets stiff with feathers. +It was plain to be seen that it was a very great occasion, and that +no pains would be spared to make it a success. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE WOLVES AVENGE + +Presently, at a given sign, the procession started. It was led by an +old medicine-man, who moved slowly forward, singing a medicine-chant +as he walked. He was extremely old and shrivelled and was smothered +in paint and feathers. And he had a husky voice that cut the air +like a saw. Behind him rode the chief on horseback, a splendid +figure of a man, upright as a dart, and magnificently dressed. +Immediately after him came Shasta on the travois. The braves +followed in a long line. + +Shasta's heart was heavy with fear. No one told him what was going +to be done with him, yet a terrible foreboding made him shiver now +and then. And yet the birds twittered, and the air was fragrant with +the scent of the dew-drenched grass, and the sky blue between the +trails of mist. All the world seemed full of life, and free, except +himself only, bound and aching on the travois. + +When the procession reached the top of a high ridge, the travois was +stopped. The Indians lifted Shasta out and bound him to a stake +driven into the ground. Around the stake they piled fagots of wood. +When this was finished, the medicine-man sprinkled dried sweet grass +over the pile so that when the flames rose up there might be a +pleasant smell. During the preparations the braves arranged +themselves in a large circle about the stake. As soon as the +arrangements were completed, they waited for the medicine-man to +light the fire, and sing the words which would be the signal for the +opening of the dance. There was a pause. For a few moments nothing +happened. It was one of those strange pieces of silence which drop +sometimes even into the centre of civilized life, and people become +uneasy--they could not tell you why. Only the mist went on, trailing +over the ridge, swaying weirdly as the air pushed. It was still cold +with the freshness left by the dawn. And although the sun had +already risen, his beams were not strong enough as yet to dispel the +dense masses of mist that kept rising from all the lower grounds. +Near or distant, so far as Shasta's keen ears could detect, nothing +stirred. The fat blue grouse which had been feeding on the +blueberries had fled at the Indians' approach. The old coyote who +had made her den on the south side of the hill was out hunting with +her young ones and had not yet returned. For any sight or sound that +declared itself, the lonely ridge at the edge of the prairies was a +dead lump of burnt-up summer grass where not a living creature +stirred. In that tremendous pause when all the world seemed to be +waiting, Shasta threw back his head and gave the long gathering-cry +of the wolves. + +That call for help went ringing out far from the summit of the ridge. +The hollow places sucked it in, and gave back sobbing echoes of its +desperate need. One long cry that was not an echo, came from the +hills in answer. That was all. Then the silence of the Wild closed +down, and you could hear your heart beat in your side. From the +prairies, from the hills, from the mountains beyond, no sound came. +The familiar shapes of things were there as before; but they were +dumb, blind, motionless, strangled in the mist. Close by a small +fire already burning, the medicine-man stood with a forked stick in +his hand, ready to take the live coal which should light the fagots +about the stake. And as he stood, he kept repeating to himself now +and again the strange words of a world-old medicine-chant, so strange +and old that even for him the original meaning of the words had +departed, leaving crooked shapes and sounds behind. The eyes of all +the assembled Indians were fastened intently upon him. When he +should have finished the chant, he would take the live coal from the +fire, and the great death dance would begin. It was the dance by +which they would celebrate the burning of the evil spirit or +"medicine" which they believed Shasta embodied, and which, once +destroyed, would enable them to vanquish all their foes. And then, +when the dance began, and became wilder and wilder as the flames +mounted higher at the stake, the whole hill-top would be alive with +Indian shapes that swayed madly in the mist. + +But what shapes were those coming down from the foothills--those +long, flowing shapes with tongues that lolled and eyes that shone? +There was no warning sound that told of their coming. They flowed +down the hillsides in a grey flood that rippled but did not break. + +Down the hills, past the Indian camp, through the valley bottom, out +on the prairie, it flowed uninterruptedly till it reached the foot of +the ridge. And still, to all outward seeming, the world appeared +exactly as it was before, as if the sun himself, with all the vast +lonely spaces of sky and earth, and all the creatures they contained, +were waiting for that terrible moment when the medicine-chant should +cease. + +As for Shasta himself, after that first despairing cry, he had not +moved a muscle of his body. He felt that the end was near at hand; +that nothing but a miracle could save him now. + +The medicine-chant was drawing to a close. The medicine-man moved a +pace or two nearer to the fire. Round the great circle of expectant +braves there passed a thrill that went through them like swift flame. +For a second or two Shasta felt as if his heart had stopped. At that +instant, a short, deep-throated bellow came up from the mist below. +It was the signal for the attack. And there was no other warning. +Yet there they all were--Nitka, Shoomoo, the foster-brothers who +remembered Shasta, and the other brothers who did not, and many +others besides, belonging to widely-sundered packs, hundreds and +hundreds of them, all united under the leadership of the giant +Shoomoo for the one great purpose of rescuing Shasta from the hands +of his cruel foes. + +Up the sides of the ridge they bounded--those long, grey bodies that +seemed buoyant like the mist. + +When they reached the summit, there was not an instant's pause. In +one ringing wolf-voice, the whole of the united packs gave tongue. + +Already the medicine-man had taken the live coal on the stick and was +just about to set it to the dried grass round the stake when he was +hurled to the earth by the leaping form of a tremendous wolf--none +other than Shoomoo himself! + +As he fell, an Indian darted forward, intending to bury his tomahawk +in the wolf. But before he could do so, Shoomoo had leaped away from +the prostrate figure, and in an instant had thrown himself on his +assailant. There was a gleam as the raised tomahawk caught the +light. Yet though it descended it inflicted no fatal wound, and the +Indian was borne helplessly to the ground, from which he never rose +again. + +The Indians fought desperately, but they were hopelessly outnumbered +from the first. There were wolves everywhere. If one was killed or +disabled, half-a-dozen more instantly filled his place. They came +from all quarters, surging up from the lower ground in waves that +seemed as if they would never end. On every hand the fight raged +furiously. On all sides it was the same mass of dark, leaping +bodies, gleaming eyes, and white fangs that tore and slashed. And +everywhere it was Shoomoo, Nitka, and the wolf-brothers that did the +deadliest work. Shoomoo, himself, seemed to be everywhere at once. +Over and over again, Shasta, shivering, and frenzied with excitement +as he watched the progress of the fight, saw the giant form of the +great father wolf hurl itself through the air, and strike some +struggling Indian to the ground. + +Would the wolves win? Would the wolves win?--That was the agonizing +thought that made Shasta shake from head to foot. If they did, he +was saved. If not--then all was lost. He would be doomed to die the +terrible death by fire. He wrenched and strained in a vain attempt +to loose his bonds. His utmost efforts were of no avail. Whatever +was the result of the contest, he knew that he must remain helpless +to the end. + +Once or twice a wild despair seized him. There came a pause in the +fight, as if the wolves wavered. Suppose, after all, the Indians +were able to hold their own? In spite of their terrible losses, they +had killed many of their wolfish foes. Numbers of them lay dead or +dying. It would be small wonder if, after all, the rest should grow +intimidated, and slink off. Yet after each temporary lull, there +would be a fresh attack led by Shoomoo or Nitka, and again the air +would ring with the terrible gathering cry of the packs. + +At last the Indians could hold out no longer. Utterly unprepared as +they were for this fearful horde of undreamed-of enemies; feeling, +too, that their "medicine" had deserted them and that the Great +Spirit, being offended, had abandoned them to their fate,--the +survivors lost their presence of mind and fled shrieking down the +hill. + +Few, very few, ever found their way back to camp. It was the wolf +triumph, the wolf revenge. The ridge, from end to end, was strewn +with Indian dead. + +It was Nitka herself who released Shasta, and her famous teeth which +tore the thongs from his arms and legs, and, after long and patient +work, at last set him free. And when he lay on the ground, almost +too dazed to understand, with his whole body feeling like one big +bruise, it was her loving tongue that comforted him, caressing him +back to life. + +The sun was already high in the heavens before Shasta was strong +enough to move. Then, with Nitka on one side and Shoomoo on the +other, and the wolf-brothers all about on every hand, Shasta started +for home. But it was not the home of his Indian kin. It was the +cave upon the Bargloosh, far away from the tread of human feet; the +old strange home whose rocky walls seemed to him to hold the +beginnings of his life. + +* * * * * * * + +Did he go back to his people later? Did he say good-bye to the +wolf-folk for ever, and forget the ways of the Wild? Perhaps. Who +can say? + +Perhaps Gomposh could tell you, or even Goohooperay. Or you might +entice it out of Shoshawnee when his face goes red on the lookout +butte towards the setting sun. + +But _if_ he went back, which is possible, I do not think he would +ever forget. For the Wild, and the ways of its folk, are too great +to be forgotten. And then, you see, he was Shasta of the _Wolves_! + + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Shasta of the Wolves, by Olaf Baker + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59576 *** |